Defining civic entrepreneurship

Abstract

The impact of globalization on the sociology of western countries is tremendous. In particular, the increased heterogeneity of those societies, and the crisis consequences on economic and social security, is questioning the relevance of traditional political action. Besides the state level political action, communities at regional and local levels are acting to solve problems that are not addressed adequately. Therefore, within the developing field of entrepreneurship, a new domain of “civic entrepreneurship” is emerging (Banuri & Najam ed. 2002 ; Christopoulos, 2009 ; Goldsmith, 2010 ; Hansen, 2002 ; Henton & al. 1997 ; Leadbeater & Goss, 1999 ; Rowe & Christie, 2008). It appears to provide a key element in the elucidation of the complex issues that local and regional communities are facing nowadays, notably in terms of the “common good”. But as for any emerging domain, the notion of civic entrepreneurship is far from established as a clear concept. It is sometimes associated with social entrepreneurship (Christopoulos, 2009), sometimes with public entrepreneurship (Rowe & Christie, 2008), always with some kind of social innovation.

Whereas arguing that civic entrepreneurship is linked to a specific category of value, we provide a new perspective on the field of entrepreneurship. By discriminating three alternative domains of value, possibly underlying the action of an entrepreneur, we are able to define the specific locus of civic entrepreneurship. We clearly separate it from social entrepreneurship on one side, and business entrepreneurship on the other side.

On that purpose, we formulate too key distinctions. Firstly, between the legal status and the social destination of entrepreneurial entities. That distinction, which is frequently missed out, is proved necessary to avoid a broad range of misunderstandings. Secondly, we rely on the economic anthropology of Godelier (2007) to articulate three domains of social valuing: The Market, The Gift and The Sacred. On that basis, we argue and exemplify that the purpose of civic entrepreneurship is actually rooted in the third domain.

Relying on that outcome, we investigate the theoretical conditions of a civic entrepreneurial action. Doing so, we are both stating the driving forces of civic entrepreneurship, and providing its formal definition. Common good, the modern figure of the sacred, is the core purpose of civic entrepreneurship. It can be defined as the combination of a public good and sacred (or civic) value. That valuing process can be recognized when the renewing of a civic value is linked to the collective protection of a public good.