Intermediary organisations and the hegemonisation of social entrepreneurship: Fantasmatic articulations, constitutive quiescences, and moments of indeterminacy

Dey, Pascal; Schneider, Hanna; Maier, Florentine (2016). Intermediary organisations and the hegemonisation of social entrepreneurship: Fantasmatic articulations, constitutive quiescences, and moments of indeterminacy Organization Studies, 37(10), pp. 1451-1472. SAGE https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0170840616634133

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The rapid rise of alternative organisations such as social enterprises is largely due to the promotional activities of intermediary organisations. So far, little is known about the affective nature of such activities. The present article thus investigates how intermediary organisations make social entrepreneurship palatable for a broader audience by establishing it as an object of desire. Drawing on affect-oriented extensions of Laclau and Mouffe’s poststructuralist theory, hegemonisation is suggested as a way of understanding how social entrepreneurship is articulated through a complementary process of signification and affective investment. Specifically, by examining Austrian intermediaries, we show how social entrepreneurship is endowed with a sense of affective thrust that is based on three interlocking dynamics: the articulation of fantasies such as ‘inclusive exclusiveness’, ‘large-scale social change’ and ‘pragmatic solutions’; the repression of anxiety- provoking and contentious issues (constitutive quiescences); as well as the use of conceptually vague, floating signifiers (moments of indeterminacy). Demonstrating that the hegemonisation of social entrepreneurship involves articulating certain issues whilst, at the same time, omitting others, or rendering them elusive, the article invites a counter-hegemonic critique of social entrepreneurship, and, on a more general level, of alternative forms of organising, that embraces affect as a driving force of change, while simultaneously affirming the impossibility of harmony and wholeness.

Item Type:	Journal Article (Original Article)
Division/Institute:	Business School > Institute for Innovation and Strategic Entrepreneurship > Low-end Innovation
Name:	Dey, Pascal0000-0003-2792-0061; Schneider, Hanna and Maier, Florentine
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General)
ISSN:	0170-8406
Publisher:	SAGE
Language:	English
Submitter:	Pascal Dey
Date Deposited:	27 Oct 2020 10:33
Last Modified:	10 Oct 2023 21:46
Publisher DOI:	https://doi.org/10.1177%2F0170840616634133
Uncontrolled Keywords:	affect, discourse, fantasy, hegemony and counter-hegemony, intermediary organisations, Laclau and Mouffe, social entrepreneurship
ARBOR DOI:	10.24451/arbor.13097
URI:	https://arbor.bfh.ch/id/eprint/13097