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Journal section "Social development"

Political Economy – a Theoretical and Methodological Framework for Identifying Main Trends in Social Entrepreneurship Developmen

Pavlov R.N.

Volume 11, Issue 4, 2018

Pavlov R.N. Political economy – a theoretical and methodological framework for identifying main trends insocial entrepreneurship development. Economic and Social Changes: Facts, Trends, Forecast, 2018, vol. 11, no. 4, pp. 235–251.DOI: 10.15838/esc.2018.4.58.15

DOI: 10.15838/esc.2018.4.58.15

Abstract   |   Authors   |   References
The paper discusses some features of the source of social entrepreneurship as a new form ofbusiness organization, aimed at implementing social objectives in the context of strengthening neoliberaltrends in economic policy and economic theory, rather than at maximizing the owners’ profit. It isdemonstrated that, remaining within the framework of the neoliberal ideology which retains its influencein the economic science, it is impossible to create an adequate theory explaining the importance of socialentrepreneurship in the context of the process of changing paradigms of economic relations, since underthe influence of this ideology false stereotypes are established, which is accompanied by falsification ofhistorical facts. In this context it seems that the methodology of political economy, taking into accountthe current trends in the transformation of socio-economic relations and the deviation of the trend ofsocial development from the framework of the formally preserved, but declining neoliberal paradigm, isvery popular, especially since its problem areas include issues such as the distinction between individualand social forms of production, the relations between the necessary and surplus product, the distributionof surplus value (in case of its occurrence), the issues of individualization and socialization of economicphenomena, the correlation between market and non-market production areas and distribution ofthe final product, the issue of recognizing the social significance of the result of individual labor. Inthe present paper these methodological principles are applied for analyzing a complex, contradictoryphenomenon of social entrepreneurship. The purpose of the research is to justify the need for a politicaleconomic approach to studying the main trends in social entrepreneurship development amid limitedtheoretical and methodological tools available within the neo-liberal economic theory. This will solve thefollowing problems: form a completely objective image of its development, determine the true nature ofthis phenomenon and identify certain features of production method underlying social entrepreneurship.Since social entrepreneurship is one of the forms of alienation removal, in the context of political economy,assuming the desire for associated social creativity, it can be perceived as one of the tools for transitionfrom the “kingdom of necessity” to the “kingdom of freedom”, according to K. Marx

Keywords

social entrepreneurship, political economy, mainstream, industrial relations

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