Projects / Programmes
Young entrepreneurs in times of uncertainty and accelerated optimism: an ethnological study of entrepreneurship and ethics of young people in modern-day Slovenia
| Code |
Science |
Field |
Subfield |
| 6.04.00 |
Humanities |
Ethnology |
|
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| S220 |
Social sciences |
Cultural anthropology, ethnology |
| Code |
Science |
Field |
| 5.04 |
Social Sciences |
Sociology |
Young people, livelihood practices, economy, entrepreneurship, startuppers, ethics, person, future, hope, uncertainty, accelerated optimism, Slovenia
Researchers (8)
Organisations (2)
Abstract
The Slovenian public is often witness to optimistic narratives concerning so-called “young entrepreneurs”, i.e. young people with a chosen independent entrepreneurial career able to support themselves and possibly others using their own ideas and enthusiasm. Before the most recent economic crisis (2008–2013), economy did not examine youth as an independent subject of entrepreneurship, but merely in relation to education and employment prospects. However, accelerated creation of hope in the post-crisis included the promotion of youth entrepreneurship. The latter will be the research focus of our proposed project.
Our project is inspired by the European ethnology classics on ethical and economic effects of the formation of new social classes and groups in European societies. We are also joining the growing trend of examining the shaping of values in uncertain transitional times. However, while ethics and economics are often discussed as related issues, the two are rarely correlated with research of youth. In addition, Slovenian ethnology treated economic themes and livelihood practices in the past, but only very rarely as a form of self-reflective activity. Our proposed research aims to fill these gaps through ethnographic study of the young entrepreneur in Slovenia as a creator of youth culture as a historical subject in specific contemporary frameworks: (trans)national society, system, economy, media, public opinion and ethics. We view young entrepreneurs as ethical persons, therefore our study will address the processes of personal (self)constructing and the factors leading individuals towards entrepreneurial activity, consequently potentially shaping their individual culture and influencing the wider Slovenian society. In synchronic perspective we will examine: education at various levels, mass- and social media, as well as newly established institutions and social spaces for stimulating entrepreneurship. In a historical perspective, we will consider the recent economic and moral crisis resulting in youth unemployment, but also in thoughts and measures stimulating youth entrepreneurship. These auspicious individuals’ life-stories co-created the contemporary period of accelerated optimism.
The goal of our research is therefore to ethnographically document and study the emergence and functioning of said historically new subject in Slovenia, which emerged in exceptionally transitional unsure times, resulting in the creation and propagation of optimistic accounts of the lives of exceptional individuals intended to serve as communal role models.
Following contemporary scholarship on ethics and personality formation, we will analyse young entrepreneurs’ life stories and operation of entrepreneurial spaces in Ljubljana, Maribor, and smaller Slovenian towns. We will also analyse relevant support systems, such as education, academic, expert, and media discourses taking into account gender aspects of youth entrepreneurship, and historical (dis)continuities in entrepreneurial ethics. Our Research results will be presented to academic and wider publics regularly, i.e. at the joint workshop for researchers and examined entrepreneurs; at our international seminar, conferences and symposia, in publications in referential journals and joint final volume of the research group.
Our research will contribute to the development of Slovenian ethnology. It will advance neglected fields of research, e.g., self-reflectivity in livelihood practices, youth and ethics, establish ethnology alongside social sciences which currently hold prominence in socially significant areas of economy, and add Slovenian examples to international literature. Understanding this emerging subject and its associated forms of sociality lends long-term potential for developing critical applied policies. We expect that our results will also inspire young people and help improve strategies and measures of promoting youth entrepreneurship.
Significance for science
Objectives of the proposed research:
1. To strengthen research of economy and livelihood strategies within Slovenian ethnology.
2. To contribute a pioneering ethnographic understanding of the emerging historical subject of “the young entrepreneur” in Slovenia. By this, we intend to improve the position of ethnology relative to other social sciences, which are appropriating leading position in the socially significant areas (e.g. economic science).
3. To further our understanding of the particulars of modern times in Slovenia including taking into account its past, as well as the visions and creation of its future. We believe the idea of ambivalence of time, which is marked by both a sense of crisis and encouragement of optimism, will prove particularly fruitful in our research and discussion.
4. To expand the discussion of ethics and personality formation by contributing Slovenian examples to international literature and ensure a mutual exchange of knowledge in this field, because we believe that young entrepreneurs prompt a high-level debate on questions, which have been posed by established authors, such as M. Lambek, V. Das, J. Laidlaw, A. Yurchak.
5. To kindle renewed ethnological interest in youth, which long stood outside the scope of ethnological endeavours.
Originality of the expected results:
The expected results will be original in Slovenian ethnology due to the following characteristics of the state of the discipline:
1. 1. A notable decline in the research of economy in favour of the research of heritage, folklore, rituals, and ecology.
2. 2. A scarcity of research on youth and lack of understanding of generations and intergenerational relations.
3. 3. Increased affinity for the past in relation to the present and future.
4. 4. The lacking induction of entirely new ethnological questions from international literature on ethics and personhood.
The expected results will also be original from the viewpoint of other scientific disciplines, because there is as yet no ethnographic understanding in Slovenia of present-day young people that would be sufficiently complex, detailed, incorporating the perspective of the agent.
In terms of international ethnology, the results will be original, because there exists very little ethnological research of Slovenia.
Potential impact of the results:
The expected results will be relevant to the general public in Slovenia, because they will portray the subject to which Slovenian and global society attribute important status. In this context, ethnology will contribute results, which will reverberate outside its scientific dominion, such as in disciplines studying entrepreneurs directly (economic science) as well as those concerned with various modes of personality formation (sociology, philosophy, psychology etc.). The results will garner social response, as today “the young entrepreneur” is perceived as a positive social role model. The understanding of this emerging subject therefore lend long-term prospects for critical applied policies.
Significance for the country
Objectives of the proposed research:
1. To strengthen research of economy and livelihood strategies within Slovenian ethnology.
2. To contribute a pioneering ethnographic understanding of the emerging historical subject of “the young entrepreneur” in Slovenia. By this, we intend to improve the position of ethnology relative to other social sciences, which are appropriating leading position in the socially significant areas (e.g. economic science).
3. To further our understanding of the particulars of modern times in Slovenia including taking into account its past, as well as the visions and creation of its future. We believe the idea of ambivalence of time, which is marked by both a sense of crisis and encouragement of optimism, will prove particularly fruitful in our research and discussion.
4. To expand the discussion of ethics and personality formation by contributing Slovenian examples to international literature and ensure a mutual exchange of knowledge in this field, because we believe that young entrepreneurs prompt a high-level debate on questions, which have been posed by established authors, such as M. Lambek, V. Das, J. Laidlaw, A. Yurchak.
5. To kindle renewed ethnological interest in youth, which long stood outside the scope of ethnological endeavours.
Originality of the expected results:
The expected results will be original in Slovenian ethnology due to the following characteristics of the state of the discipline:
1. 1. A notable decline in the research of economy in favour of the research of heritage, folklore, rituals, and ecology.
2. 2. A scarcity of research on youth and lack of understanding of generations and intergenerational relations.
3. 3. Increased affinity for the past in relation to the present and future.
4. 4. The lacking induction of entirely new ethnological questions from international literature on ethics and personhood.
The expected results will also be original from the viewpoint of other scientific disciplines, because there is as yet no ethnographic understanding in Slovenia of present-day young people that would be sufficiently complex, detailed, incorporating the perspective of the agent.
In terms of international ethnology, the results will be original, because there exists very little ethnological research of Slovenia.
Potential impact of the results:
The expected results will be relevant to the general public in Slovenia, because they will portray the subject to which Slovenian and global society attribute important status. In this context, ethnology will contribute results, which will reverberate outside its scientific dominion, such as in disciplines studying entrepreneurs directly (economic science) as well as those concerned with various modes of personality formation (sociology, philosophy, psychology etc.). The results will garner social response, as today “the young entrepreneur” is perceived as a positive social role model. The understanding of this emerging subject therefore lend long-term prospects for critical applied policies.
Most important scientific results
Interim report
Most important socioeconomically and culturally relevant results
Interim report
