Redefining entrepreneurialism in the maker movement: A critical youth approach

Abstract

Background: This paper explores traditional iterations of, and new challenges to, the tightly linked discourses of entrepreneurship and innovation within the maker movement. Methods: In a yearlong critical ethnographic study with 12 youth makers, we investigated how youth engaged with and redefined entrepreneurialism through their identity work as justice-oriented, community makers. Findings: Examining youth experiences of entering their making designs into a regional youth Entrepreneurial Faire, we found that the dominant cultures of making and entrepreneurialism at the Faire presented limited opportunities for equitable participation in either. However, youth makers’ community justice-oriented efforts disrupted relationships of power among youth, adults, STEM-rich making, and society. Their critical youth approach argued for a new vision for entrepreneurialism/entrepreneurship. Youth reconfigured a critical maker-entrepreneurialism through practices multidimensionally grounded in a) re-humanizing making and b) building community. Their public discourses highlighted what this effort could produce for community justice and community well-being. Their critical reconfiguration actions revealed and challenged inequitable values and practices driven by inherent White, male, middle-class bias and neoliberalism. Contribution: Youth efforts call for a re-imagination and new recognition of what counts as participation, expertise, and success in both making and entrepreneurialism. We discuss implications for a more socially just entrepreneurialism.