Social Entrepreneurship in India and the Development Question: A Sociological Perspective

Abstract

Social entrepreneurship has a unique approach in finding solutions to societal and developmental problems that alsoattracts academic interest. Social entrepreneurship and social enterprise appear to be having an identical meaning, though the former indicates the process and the latter means the organizational form. Neither has a uniform conceptualization because different countries use different legal definitions to define social enterprises.In India too, there are no definite boundaries given to social entrepreneurship and social enterprises.The fact that in India social enterprises are mainly structured as public/private limited companies and only a few are registered as trust or non government organizations. It is difficult also to define social entrepreneurship based on structural features because then it overlaps traditional enterprises. Thus, an important reflection is thatwe need to consider the qualitative features over the structural features of social enterprises. The qualitative features are social mission, social change, innovation and inclusion of the Bottom of the Pyramid1of the population, which also explains the process of social entrepreneurship. This means that the process of social entrepreneurship is largely meant to fill the developmental gaps which “not-for-profit” organizations, “for-profit” organizations, and the state have not been able to do. By filling these gaps it also enters into the area of quality of life2, as social enterprises provide goods and services that not just meet their physical needs, but also ensure their well-being, and improve quality of life, by enhancing the capabilities, of the people living at the bottom of the economic pyramid, thus attempt to bring them within mainstream development.