Social Entrepreneurship

Introduction

The key issue in this course is social entrepreneurship: To establish businesses with the core idea of solving a social or cultural problem through business means. The students will be exposed to dilemmas and ranges of options that distinguish social entrepreneurship from purely commercial entrepreneurship. The students will also learn about ways to identify spaces for social action, try out tools and methods for making change, and deliberate on how to balance economic and social ends. Cases and ethnographic material for discussion and comparison will be drawn from all over the world. The course is an option for students who contemplate the establishment of a social enterprise. It is also suitable for international students who want to develop their ability to work as social and cultural innovators in their home countries, as well as Norwegian students who consider careers in national companies other than purely commercial ones, or abroad.

Course content

• Introduction to the field of social entrepreneurship
• Social entrepreneurs
• Market, state and civil society
• CSR 2.0
• Ashoka
• The moral in the social enterprise
• Political and cultural conditions
• Setting up a social enterprise
• Entrepreneurship as social practice