Voices in the fog: Accounts of social entrepreneurship identity in the UK third sector

Abstract

The purpose of this chapter is to explore the durability of social entrepreneurship (SE) identity gleaned from narrative accounts of SE. Specifically, this chapter draws on in-depth narrative interviews with five leading social entrepreneurs in the United Kingdom to explore the contested nature of this identity in broader third sector discourse. These interviews were collected at intervals over a period of 2 years (2010-2011), and were driven by the development of political projects (such as Big Society) aimed at creating a cohesive sense of third sector organisations. SEs are at once simply described but also ambiguously identified, and there are many conflicting opinions about the way forward for researchers in this area. Also, we recognise that broader discursive forces have a direct influence upon our understanding of organisational sense-making and identity. This chapter argues that the enforced ‘top-down’ approach to identity shaping by powerful political and economic discourse participants is only partly resisted by social entrepreneurs. The central research questions for this study are: What identities are portrayed of social entrepreneurs? And, are these constructions accepted or resisted? This research helps to address these questions through the narratives developed by social entrepreneurs in the UK. Using a discourse and content analysis frameworks, this chapter utilises this qualitative data to isolate the articulations of resistance to the imposed SE identity. Furthermore, it is possible to identify resistance, and even counter-discourse, among SEs that would be seen as ‘successful’ in terms of their organisational growth and measures of economic and social benefit.