Dictionnaire sociologique de l'entrepreneuriat

A recurring image in economic and political discourse, especially when thinking about employment, innovation and the objectives of economic and labour policies, the entrepreneur is usually presented as an individual actor: a business creator, an innovator, a company leader or a self-employed worker.

The first dictionary of entrepreneurship, this volume presents tools to help to understand the various configurations and logical forms that the work practice can adopt. This dictionary is less interested in describing the 'heroic' image of the entrepreneur than his or her entrepreneurial activities and social and institutional support — markets, funding, recruitment, reputation, networks, etc. — as well the way in which individuals and organisations deploy the latter.

In keeping with the principle of the collection to which this volume belongs, each concept or expression is presented with an overview of the existing relevant research and offers a few avenues for further reflection, often based on previously unpublished case studies.

Bringing together the work of 33 sociologists specialised in business, and supplemented by a keyword glossary and an exhaustive bibliography, this dictionary provides both the concepts and examples needed to describe and understand entrepreneurship from different economic perspectives, thus offering a large overview of both seminal and contemporary research.