No choices, no chances: how contemporary enterprise culture is failing Britain’s underclasses.

摘要

Despite an increasing interest in minority entrepreneurship inrecent years, the issue of ‘underclass entrepreneurship’ and its linkages to‘enterprise culture’ remain underresearched. In this article, the authorsexamine ‘chavs’ as an indigenous British underclass. Using data gatheredfrom an Internet search and newspaper cuttings, they examine how thissilent ‘stereotyped’ and socially constructed minority is presented asdangerous and unemployable. In the process, they uncover hidden linksbetween the underclass and enterprise culture, and analyse how entrepreneurshipcan help such minorities to achieve inclusivity via considerationof role theory and the power of narrative in initiating social transformation.This framework helps us to understand how it is possible to directyoung, disadvantaged individuals towards an entrepreneurial career pathvia self-employment. The paper raises intriguing issues relating to youthemployment and tells the story of how contemporary enterprise culture isfailing one of Britain’s silent minorities.