The Anthropology of Entrepreneurship: Cultural History, Global Ethnographies, Theorizing Agency

The Anthropology of Entrepreneurship provides a comprehensive overview of the unique contribution from anthropology to the field of entrepreneurship studies.

Insights from anthropology illuminate the wider socio-cultural implications of entrepreneurialism, a moral order and social practice that is profoundly shaping contemporary society. Revisiting classic works in anthropology from a new angle, this book provides an exciting introduction to diverse conceptual framings of economic agency. The author also examines a wide range of 21st century ethnographies from the Global South, alongside his own research from across Europe. Readers meet ordinary people struggling with new social landscapes, including neoliberal urbanism, informal credit, heritage marketing, social enterprising, gift competition, and silicon utopias. With sensitivity to different theoretical, temporal, and ethnographic perspectives, the author presents a thorough cultural history of the entrepreneur―this ubiquitous, yet ambivalent contemporary character.

This important volume will be of interest to scholars and students of anthropology, business studies and other related social sciences.

Richard Pfeilstetter is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Seville.