Gender and Entrepreneurship: An Ethnographic Approach

ISBN-13: 9780415486590 / Angielski / Miękka / 2004 / 240 str.

Attila Bruni;Silvia Gheraradi;Barbara Poggio

Opis

Entrepreneurship can be read as a cultural and economic phenomenon. In recent times, gender has become an increasing influence on entrepreneurship. This groundbreaking new study considers both gender and entrepreneurship as symbolic forms, looking at their diverse patterns and social representation. Presenting an ethnographic study of the gender structuring of entrepreneurship, this work employs three strategies:
A critical survey of gender studies which argues that entrepreneurship is a cultural model of masculinity that obstructs the expression of other models;
'Reflexive' ethnographic observation conducted in five small firms which describes how business cultures are 'gendered' and how gender is the product of a social practice;
An analysis of how discursive and narrative practices in business cultures constitute gender and entrepreneurship.

Spis treści

AcknowledgementsINTRODUCTION: Gender and entrepreneurship as entwined practicesCHAPTER ONE: How a gender approach to entrepreneurship differs from the study of women entrepreneurs1.1 Entrepreneur-mentality1.2 Women entrepreneurs: the victims of gendered research practices1.3 Feminist organizations and the women's standpoint1.4 Can we do differently?CHAPTER TWO: Gender as a social practice, entrepreneurship as a form of masculinity: a theoretical framework2.1 Gender: a situated performance in the intersections between bodies, discourses and practices2.2 Making masculinity (in)visible2.3 The symbolics of masculinities: entrepreneurship as a form of masculinityConclusionsCHAPTER THREE: Doing and saying gender: a methodological framework3.1 Reflexive ethnography: from the 'red notebook' to the 'toolbox'3.2 The research context, data collection and data analysisConclusionsCHAPTER FOUR: Company ethnographies: the gendering of entrepreneurship and the enterprising of gender4.1 Asie Welders4.2 Asie Welders: an anti-heroic story4.3 Erba Shirts4.4 Erba Shirts: an ordinary case of entrepreneurship4.5 Frau Kitchens4.6 Frau Kitches: a matter of honour?4.7 LeCò Fashion4.8 LeCò: between tradition and innovation4.9 Atlantis Magazine4.10 Atlantis: does heterosexuality matter?ConclusionsCHAPTER FIVE: Gender and entrepreneurship as discursive practice5.1 The 'ingredients' of entrepreneurship: risk, money, innovation and gender neutrality5.2 Constructing gender through risk, money and innovation5.3 A 'normal' woman entrepreneur?5.4 Narrating entrepreneurship and genderConclusionsCHAPTER SIX: 'Doing family' while doing gender and business: concluding remarksAppendix: Ethnography of practices and ethnographic practiceReferences

O autorze

Attila Bruni is lecturer of Sociology of Organization/Organizational Ethnography at Venice University, Italy.
Silvia Gherardi is Professor of Sociology of Organization at the University of Trento.
Barbara Poggio is Lecturer of Sociology of Organization at the University of Siena.