12-22-03
Sociology172
Winter, 2004
Entrepreneurship
1. General
Description
Entrepreneurship is loosely equated to the pursuit of
excellence, to innovation in any field, to huckstering self-promotion, and so
forth. But the locus classicus of entrepreneurship is business
ownership: entrepreneurs are owner/managers of business firms. Contrary to the
stereotype, all entrepreneurs are neither rich nor successful. Indeed, most
entrepreneurs earn an average living by dint of harder than average work. All
entrepreneurs are not innovators or geniuses. A very few (who get all the media
attention) are big-time innovators who devise new technologies, new products or
services, new organizational forms, or who open new markets. Example: Thomas
Edison invented and marketed the electric light. He’s famous. Fernando Gomez invented the frozen, vegetarian taco.
He’s not famous. In this course, we are interested in both kinds of
entrepreneurs, the famous few, and the unglamorous multitude.
This course is about entrepreneurship, not small or
medium business. Entrepreneurship is the capacity to be an effective
entrepreneur. Business ownership is the vehicle this capacity utilizes. This
capacity emerges from a social process. Most of that process lies on the supply
side. Entrepreneurship includes characteristics of the individual, such
as personality, health, intelligence, and gender, but it also includes the
social and societal matrix from which the individual entrepreneur springs and,
drawing upon which, the entrepreneur innovates. For example, entrepreneurs
typically spring from particular groups (religions, ethnic groups, classes,
etc.), from people aged 35-55, and even from certain regions.
This course surveys the classic and current
sociological literature on entrepreneurship. The classic literature is reviewed
first. and completed by the time of the mid-term examination. Then we turn to
literature completed since 1980, the modern literature. The course pays
particular interest to the entrepreneurship of immigrants and ethnic
minorities, much studied of late, but it also discusses women's
entrepreneurship, microcredit and the Grameen bank, illegal entrepreneurship,
and public policy issues related to entrepreneurship. The course also pays some
attention to the economic environment of the USA for entrepreneurs, the demand
side.
This is a
course in sociology, not a course in how to start or run your own business.
Admittedly, the strategic orientation this course provides would
assist someone who wanted to start a business; therefore, being a would-be
entrepreneur is a valid reason for taking this course -- provided one understands that a real academic subject is what
she or he can expect. Without offering traditional business school skills, this
course tries to explain the causes and consequences of entrepreneurship,
surveying the whole field, and treating the subject in a conventional
sociological manner analogous to the approaches taken to law, medicine, and the
clergy by the sociology of the professions. The course is especially suitable
for students interested in business, economic history, economic sociology, and
economic development. Most broadly, the course will be of interest to students
who wish to explore creativity, problem-solving, innovation, and agency in a
sociological context.
This course
treats a fairly narrow topic, entrepreneurship. Economic development involves
much more than entrepreneurship. Therefore, this course is not a survey course
in economic development. Many more undergraduate students are interested in
economic development than are interested in entrepreneurship, an aspect of the
larger topic. For the larger topic, economic development, the instructor recommends
Sociology 173, Economy and Society. Entrepreneurship is a specialized subject
within that bigger rubric.
Entrepreneurship is certainly a cutting - edge topic in sociology today,
where it is unlocking access to agency in a field top-heavy with structure. It
also expands into any number of substantive areas from mental health to
criminology. People who take this course should have preexisting interests that
render a focus upon entrepreneurship meaningful to them.
2.
Administrative Details
Instructor: Ivan Light, Professor
Telephone: 310-825-4229 (office)
E-mail: light@soc.ucla.edu
Instructor's Office: 255 Haines Hall
Instructor's Office Hours: 2:30 to 3:30 Tuesdays and Thursdays
Class meetings: Tuesdays and Thursdays, 3:30 to 4:45pm.
Classroom: Dodd 161
Teaching Assistant: Karl Thulin
TA Office Hours: TBA
3. Required
Reading
You are not required to buy any books.
You are only required to read some books.
All required reading is on reserve in Powell Library. Starred items (**)
are also for sale in the ASUCLA book store. .
**Annalee Saxenian. Regional Advantage: Culture and
Competition in Silicon Valley. Harvard University Press, 1994
**Muhammed Yunus. Banker to the Poor. NY:
Public Affairs, 1999. Read chs. 2-12 only
** Donald Kraybill and Steven Nolt. Amish
Enterprise. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University, 1995. Read Chs. 2-12.
** Max Weber, The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit
of Capitalism (NY: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1958) Chs: 1-5. For sale at
ASUCLA store. Any edition of this famous book will do, and the library has
numerous free copies you can borrow.
**Ivan Light and Edna Bonacich, Immigrant
Entrepreneurs (Berkeley & Los Angeles: University of California, 1988):
chs. 7-12 only
**Soc172
Reprints Book, edited by Ivan Light.
Westwood: Course Reader Material, 1141 Westwood Blvd., LA 310-443-3303. It has
a spiral-bound cover that says "Entrepreneurship." Picture of Horatio
Alger novel adorns the cover. Contents of this spiral bound vol. are required
reading. Contents:
Theresa Devine, Characteristics of self-employed women
in the United States." Monthly Labor Review (March, 1994): 20-34
Ivan Light
and Steven Gold. Ethnic Economies. (San Diego: Academic, 2000), chs. 4-
5, 8-9. Ch 6, included, is not required.
Ivan Light
and Carolyn Rosenstein. Race, Ethnicity and Entrepreneurship in Urban
America. NY: Aldine de Gruyter, 1995, ch. 1
David Birch,.
Job Creation in America NY: Free Press, 1987. Ch 1 only
Mark Haller,
"Illegal Enterprise: A Theoretical and Historical Interpretation." Criminology
28 (1990): 207-35.
Paul Wilken. Entrepreneurship.
NY: Ablex, 1979. Chs. 1-3 only. This book is out of print and not for sale
anywhere. It is available in the reserve book room only. You may xerox copies
for your own use.
Not Required
Donald F. Kuratko and Richard M. Hidgetts, Entrepreneurship:
a Contemporary Approach 4th edition. (Ft Worth: Dryden
Press,1998) This is a conventional business school text book for those who want
to see one..
Optional Websites to Visit
This subject offers many websites.
Center for Entrepreneurial Studies: http://www.slu.edu.80/eweb/jsceshome
St Louis University
World Bank, Selected Readings on Microfinance. http://www.worldbank.org/html/cgap/readings.htm
TO OUR CREDIT is a two-part PBS documentary on
microcredit. Http://www.toourcredit.org To contact, E-mail: Roberta Lavery laverty@midmaine.com
Center for Entrepreneurial Studies: http://www.babson.edu/entrep.index
Babson College
U.S. Small Business Administration: http://www.sba.gov
Journal of Developmental Entrepreneurship:
http://www.nsu.edu/schools/business/jde/index.htm
Enterprise Development Website: http://www.enterweb.org/whatnew.htm
Women & Money magazine: http://pw2.netcom/~aikya/womenandmoney.html
Microcredit summit website: http://www.microcreditsummit.org
The
Microcredit summit is orchestrating the spread of micro-credit over the Third
World in an attempt to bring 100 million households out of poverty in the next
decade.
Microenterprise Innovation Project http://www.mip.org
A US Agency for Economic Development initiative, the
MIP aims to provide micro-entrepreneurs with greater access to financial
development services.
Grameen Bank Website:
http://titsoc.soc.titech.ac.jp/titsoc/higuchi-lab/icm/grameen-info.html
June Fourth Corporation. Community banking: http://www.june-fourth.com
National Institutes of Health/Small Business
Strategic Alliance. “How research
scientists and small business can form a productive alliance with the NIH.” http://www.ncifcrf.gov/fcrdc/conf/sbir
fanningm@mail.ncifcrf.gov
Self-Help, a North Carolina-based community
development financial institution. Making $2 billion in affordable mortgages
available to 35,000 minority home buyers nationwide. http://www.self-help.org or E-mail info@self-help.org.
The Centre for Micro-Finance homepage: Microfinance in
Nepal. Http://www.south-asia.com/cmf
Optional E-MAIL Mailing Lists & Discussion Networks
DevelopmentFinance Network listserver@lists.acs.ohio-state.edu
Enterprise Development jlorin@synapse.net
Community Development Banking List ListProc@cornell.edu
Institute of Development Studies, UK http://www.id21.org
4. Sequence of Lecture Topics by Weeks
Jan 08
Instructor's Introduction
Part I Background to 1980
Jan 13
Weber
Jan 15
Weber
Jan 20
Weber
Jan 22
Wilken
Jan 27
Wilken
Jan 29
Wilken
Part II Case Studies since 1980
Feb 03 Light
& Rosenstein
Feb 05 Light
and Bonacich
Review
questions for midterm examination
Feb 10 Light
and Bonacich
Feb 12 Midterm Examination
covers part I only
Feb 17
Light & Bonacich
Feb 19
Kraybill & Nolt, chs 2-5
Feb 24
Kraybill & Nolt, chs 6-8
Feb 26
Kraybill & Nolt, chs 9-12
Mar 02 Light and Gold, chs. 4,5
Mar 04
Saxenian
Mar 09
Saxenian
Mar 11
Yunnus
Mar 16
Light and Gold, chs. 8, 9
Mar 18
Video on microcredit in Bolivia
Reviews and interviews due today
in class
FINAL EXAMINATION,
Tuesday March 23, 2003, 9am to 11am
5. Section Meetings & Assignments
The TA will take attendance at every section
meeting. Students obtain 1 point per
meeting they attend up to a maximum of 5.
Week of
Assignment
Jan 05
No section meetings
Jan 12
All Weber
Jan 19
All Wilken
Jan 26 Birch
Feb 02 Haller
Feb 09 Light and Bonacich
Feb 16 Teresa Devine
Feb 23 Kraybill and Nolt
Mar 01 Yunus
Mar 08 Saxenian
6. Examinations
At the last class meeting before each examination, the
instructor will pass out review questions for the forthcoming exam. The review
questions consist of the universe of questions from which the actual test will
be composed. There will be two-three times as many questions on each review
list as will actually be used on the exam. Exams offer no choice.
Midterm examination: Four short-answer questions plus 2 essay questions. Closed-book test.
Instructor provides a universe of short answer and essay questions for review
on . Feb. 10 in class. Midterm Exam covers Part I reading, sections, and lectures only.
Final examination: This is closed-book test. It lasts 2 hours. You will have access to
the universe of questions on March 12. The exam consists of six short answer
questions, four essay questions. As before, the instructor will provide a
review universe of short-answer and essay questions at the last regular
meeting, Mar 18. Final Exam covers Part Two only.
7. Grading
Instructor uses a point system. Instructor awards final letter grade on the
basis of total points earned. Therefore, each person's letter grade is strictly
a product of his or her own work, and in no way depends upon the performance of
others.
|
|
BR |
INTERVIEW |
|
Midterm Examination |
25 |
25 Points |
|
Final Examination |
50 |
50 |
|
Book review 1 |
20 |
0 |
|
Interview |
0 |
20 |
|
Book Review 2 |
10 |
10 |
|
Section attendance |
05 |
05 |
|
|
|
|
|
TOTAL |
110 |
110 maximum possible score |
|
|
|
|
|
A+ |
98.0+ |
Wow! |
|
A |
94-97.9 |
Excellent |
|
A- |
90-93.9 |
|
|
B+ |
87.5-89.4 |
|
|
B |
83-87.4 |
|
|
B- |
80-82.9 |
|
|
C+ |
78-79.4 |
|
|
C |
73-77.4 |
|
|
C- |
65-72.9 |
|
|
D |
60-64.4 |
Barely passing |
|
F |
Less than 60 |
Failing: Hard to do, but not impossible |
8. Book Reviews
Students
can earn up to 20 points by reading and reviewing a book from the approved list
below. A second book may be read and reviewed for an additional 10 points. This
assignment is optional in the sense that it is possible to pass the course
without doing it. However, those who choose to write no book review cannot
receive a grade higher than B- in the course. A grade of A always requires a
book review. Those who so desire can
read and review a second book from this list for up to 10 points extra credit.
No special permission is required to undertake the first or second book
review. Book reviews are due in class
at the conclusion of the last regular class meeting.
If you
have a book you'd like to read, but it's not on this list, you may ask the
instructor or TA for permission to substitute. Bring the book to class or
section. Get permission in writing. Then append the written permission to your
completed book review when you submit it.
Extra Credit
Books are NOT on reserve in the libraries. It's YOUR problem to find a copy of
the book. So Don't delay. Start looking
now! The list of book is intentionally long in order to make that search
easier. Several excellent books are for sale now at the ASUCLA. Write and type
review/critique of one book listed in section 10 below. Only works listed are acceptable except with
permission (above). Length: should not
exceed 10 double - spaced type-written pages, and should not be less than
seven. Format of review is
mandatory. That means you must follow
it, and label each section of your review to correspond with italicized format
heading. This requirement facilitates reading your essays. Don't fail to follow
the required format. Penalty for format
failure is serious.
Papers must be printed; they are not accepted via
email or in electronic format. Number your pages.
1. Title
Page contains your name and the title plus bibliographical details
(publisher: place of publication, date of publication, and date of first
publication if different) of the book you are reviewing.
2. Description of contents Description explains what
question the book is trying to answer, its methods, data, and research design,
if any. The book's problem is the
question the author is attempting to solve by writing this book. Methods, data, and research design refer to
the manner by which the author obtained the information necessary to reach the
book's conclusions. How can the author know what he/she claims to know? This
section should be 2-4 pps. long.
3. Analysis here
you describe the author's results and
you compare these results with what you learned in the course required
reading and lectures about the same or similar problems. Example: does the book you reviewed say
something different than anything you read or heard in class? Does it amplify or expand the aforesaid
without contradicting same? If so, how?
4-6 pages long.
4. Evaluation. Reach an evaluated conclusion about the
book you read. To evaluate means to explain how good it was. You may consider
the following kinds of questions in evaluating your book: Why was this book not
a waste of your time if, in fact, it wasn't? Do you believe its
conclusions? Is the book important in
any sense? 1-2 pps. long.
9. Interview an Entrepreneur: Alternative to Book Review
As an alternative to the 20-point book review, students find
and interview an entrepreneur who is at least 31 years of age, and who has been
self-employed at least ten years during his/her working life. Interview should
last at least two hours. Then they write up that entrepreneur's business
history following the 3-section guidelines below. Students have the exclusive
responsibility for finding a qualifying entrepreneur who is willing to be interviewed; instructor does not provide an
interviewee. You need not ask any one's
permission to undertake the Interview option to the book review, but don't do
it if you cannot find your own entrepreneur.
(1) The interviewee must be 31
years of age or older, be currently self-employed, and have a work history in
self-employment of at least ten years. The intent here is to guarantee that
interviewees have real experience in entrepreneurship.
(2) The interviewee should be of a different race or ethnicity or gender (any one is enough) from the student interviewer. Close relatives are not acceptable either. Reason: objectivity. Student interviewers will identify overmuch with entrepreneurs too much like them or with close relatives; and they will lose their objectivity. You are there to study them, not to praise them.
(3) Interview reports must
follow these guidelines. Label each
section. Penalty for format failure is 20%. Papers should not exceed 12pps,
including section 1. Number your pages. Include all sections below.
Section 1: One page. Contains: your name, the full name of your interviewee, his/her age, name of business, mailing address of business, telephone number of business, website of business, site at which interviewing was completed, date(s) of interviews.
Section 2: 5-6 pages. Interviewee's Life History. What the
interviewee told you about : interviewee's personal background, including
family of origin, marital status, age, race or ethnicity, and religion.
Interviewee's work history and educational background. Why and when interviewee decided to become
an entrepreneur. What resources they had that helped the to start up and to
grow their business. What problems they identify as most serious to them in
their current and past businesses, and what strategies they adopt to resolve
those problems. What plans they have
for retirement, if any. Interviewee's evaluation of how long and hard he/she
works. All the above information should be in your interview.
Section 3: 4-5 pages. Analysis.
This is the most important section. You should analyze the life history in
terms of the sociology of entrepreneurship,
looking especially for social, cultural, and human capital. Then seek
any points of compatibility and incompatibility between what you learned from
course lectures and texts and what this person's life history exemplified. Do
not force the data. Nonetheless, the idea is to see your entrepreneur's story
in the context of theoretical knowledge about entrepreneurship, not just as
someone's idiosyncratic story.
10. Classroom Manners
Anyone asked to leave the classroom is dropped from
the course. Not permitted or asked to leave:
Smoking, spitting, eating, drinking during class sessions.
Private conversation during lecture.
Sitting in aisles; putting feet on chair backs.
Sleeping or reading newspapers during class sessions.
No shirt and/or barefoot
Drunk or stoned
Pets, except seeing-eye dogs
Disruptive infants
11.
List of Books
Any
of the books on this list is appropriate for the extra credit book review
assignment. You need not ask permission to select a book from this list for
review. If you wish to review a book not on this list, you may do so with the
written permission of the instructor. This written permission should be
appended to the review you submit as proof that permission was, in fact,
obtained. In general, the instructor will not give permission for books that,
in his judgment, lack sufficient academic merit or consist of multiply authored
chapters. None of the listed books below is on reserve in any campus library.
Every student has the responsibility for obtaining a copy of the book(s) he or
she wishes to read. Some books are for sale in ASUCLA, and we have noted the
fact where we knew it. Most books are no longer in print, and must be obtained
from libraries. Especially recommended books are indicated. "I could not
find the book" is not a valid excuse for lateness. Books and/or interviews
will be docked one point per day late, including weekends up to the day of the
final exam when they are no longer acceptable at all. However, students who
have a medical excuse can turn papers
in late without penalty.
Sara Carter and Tom Cannon. Women as Entrepreneurs.
(San Diego: Academic, 1992), chs 2-8.
Eric Schlosser. 2002. Fast Food Nation: What the
All-American Meal Is Doing to the World.
London: Penguin. This book is about the
international fast-food industry, which is a highly entrepreneurial
industry.
Wyllie, Philip. Irvin G.
1954. The Self-Made Man in
America. New York: Free Press.
Tarry Hum. 1997. "The economics of ethnic
solidaity." Phd thesis, UCLA (urban planning).
Hilary
Metcalf, Tariq Madood, and Satnam Virdee. Asian Self-Employment: the Interaction
of Culture and Economics in England. London: Policy Sciences Institute.
Read pp. 1-144. ISBN 0-85374 6982. You can order your own copy. To order, use
free fax number 0800-262266 in London. Mailing address of PSI is 100 Park
Village East, London NW1 3SR
Ivan Light and Carolyn Rosenstein, Race, Ethnicity
and Entrepreneurship in Urban America. Hawthorne NY: Aldine de Gruyter,
1995, Chs 1, 4, 5 only
Shelly
Tenenbaum. 1993. A Credit to their Community: Jewish Loan Societies in the
United States, 1880-1945. Detroit: Wayne State University.
Ann Kelly Knowles. 1997. Calvinists Incorporated:
Welsh Immigrants on Ohio’s Industrial Frontier. (Chicago: University
of Chicago).
Kwok-Bun Chan. 1995. Stepping Out: Chinese
Entrepreneurs in Singapore.
National University of Singapore, 1995.
Jock Collins,
et al. 1996. A Shop Full of Dreams: Ethnic Small Business in Australia.
Pluto Press. To order, E-mail: tmoore@socialchange.net.au
David Bornstein, The Price of a Dream: The Story of
the Grameen Bank and the Idea That is Helping the Poor to Change their Lives
(NY: Simon & Schuster, 1996). ISBN 0-684-81191-X
John Sibley Butler, Entrepreneurship and Self-Help
among Black Americans (Albany NY: State University of NY, 1991).
Davis Goss, Small Business and Society (London:
Routledge, 1991).
Robert Pascoe, Open for Business: Immigrant and
Aboriginal Entrepreneurs Tell Their Story (Canberra: Australian Government
Publishing Service, 1990)
Shelley Green and Paul Pryde, Black
Entrepreneurship in America (New Brunswick: Transaction, 1997). ISBN
0-88738-290-8
Calvin Redekop, Stephen C. Ainlay, and Robert Siemens,
Mennonite Entrepreneurs (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1995) ISBN
0-8018-5003-7
Pyong-Gap Min. 1996. Caught in the Middle: Korean
Community in New York City. Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of
California.
Ivan Szelenyi, Socialist Entrepreneurs
(Madison: University of Wisconsin, 1988): chs. 1-8. For sale at ASUCLA store.
Evelyn Kallen and Merrijoy Kelner. Ethnicity,
Opportunity and Successful Entrepreneurship in Canada. Toronto: Institute
for Behavioral Research of York University, 1983.
A. Bundles. On Her Own Ground: The Life and Times
of Madam C. J. Walker. NY: Scribner, 2001. Biography of noted African
American woman entrepreneur of early twentieth century.
Edna Bonacich and John Modell. 1980. The Economic
Basis of Ethnic Solidarity: Small Business in the Japanese American Community.
Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California.
Conrad Hilton. Be My Guest. Prentice-Hall,
1957.
Joseph A. Pierce. Negro Business and Business
Education. [1947; reprinted 1995] New York: Plenum.
S. Gordon Redding. The Spirit of Chinese Capitalism.
NY: de Gruyter, 1990. Redding is Professor of Business at the University of
Hong Kong. His book deals with overseas Chinese.
Patrick L. Clawson and R. W. Lee. 1996. The Andean
Cocaine Industry (NY: St Martin’s Press).
Francisco E. Thoumi, Political Economy and Illegal
Drugs in Colombia (Boulder: Lynne Rienner, 1995).
Walter P. Zenner. Minorities in the Middle.
Albany SUNY Press, 1991.
This book brings together Zenner's papers on
entrepreneurial ethnic minorities.
Siu-Lun Wong, Emigrant Entrepreneurs: Shanghai
Industrialists in Hong Kong. NY: Oxford University, 1988.
Linda Weiss, Creating Capitalism: the State and
Small Business (London: Blackwell, 1988). Weiss analyzes Italy's dramatic
economic growth, a product importantly of small business entrepreneurship. She
argues that state action (not entrepreneurship) was the critical contributor to
this economic revival.
Gianfranco Poggi. Calvinism and the Capitalist
Spirit: Max Weber's Protestant Ethic. London: Macmillan, 1983.
Andrew Carnegie. The Gospel of Wealth.
"I should
consider it a disgrace to die a rich man" proclaimed this industrial
entrepreneur, founder of US Steel. Unfortunately, he died in disgrace.
Henry Ford. 1922. My Life and Work. Salem NH:
Ayer.
Francis A. J. Ianni. 1972. A Family Business.
(NY: Russell Sage Foundation). An anthropologist studies a multi-generational
Mafia crime family whose holdings include legitimate as well as illegal
businesses.
Israel M. Kirzner, Competition and Entrepreneurship
(Chicago: University of Chicago, 1973). Economist's view.
Alex Counts. Give Us Credit (NY: Random House,
1996), chapters 1-4 and pp. 347-348. (ISBN 0-8129-2464-9)
Bates, Timothy. 1989. The Role of Black Enterprise
in Urban Development. Washington DC: Joint Center for Policy Studies.
Joseph Schumpeter, The Theory of Economic
Development, translated by Redvers Opie (Cambridge: Harvard University,
1934). Schumpeter predicts the obsolescence of the entrepreneurial function.
Big business will rationalize entrepreneurial innovation as a routine part of
management.
Roger D. Waldinger, Through the Eye of the Needle:
Immigrants and Enterprise in New York's Garment Trades. (NY: New York
University, 1986). How immigrant entrepreneurs revived this industry.
Ivan Light, Ethnic
Enterprise in America (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California,
1972). Comparison of Chinese, Japanese, and African Americans between 1880 and
1940.
Pyong Gap Min, Ethnic Business Enterprise: Korean
Small Business in Atlanta (NY:
Center for Migration Studies, 1988).
Rosabeth Moss Kanter, The Change Masters (NY: Simon
& Schuster, 1983): chs. 1-2, 5-10 How big business manages innovation.
Benjamin
Franklin, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin. Any edition. An
outstanding book, frequently cited by Weber, Franklin's autobiography
engagingly depicts the secularized achievement ethic that characterized
pre-industrial capitalism in the USA. Numerous copies of this book are
available in libraries. The instructor recommends this book above all others.
Alan Macfarlane, The Culture of Capitalism
(London: Blackwell, 1987). According
to Macfarlane, capitalism is a culture,
not an economic system. In this study of capitalism's European origins,
Macfarlane considers numerous cultural contributors including beliefs about
evil, love, the family, violence, and revolution. This book is hard to
appreciate if you have not already read Weber's Protestant Ethic.
Viviana Zelizer. Morals and Markets: The
Development of Life Insurance in the United States (NY: Columbia
University, 1979). The development of life insurance could only occur after
people were persuaded that the product was not immoral.
Humbert S. Nelli, 1976. The Business of Crime.
NY: Oxford. A history of Italians and syndicated crime in the USA.
Robert Goffee and Richard Scase, Women in Charge
(London: George Allen & Unwin, 1985): chs. 1-9. Women entrepreneurs in
Britain, a Business school approach.
Alejandro Portes and Robert Bach, Latin Journey:
Cubans in Miami (Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California, 1985).
Bell, Daniel. The Cultural Contradictions of
Capitalism. (NY: Basic, 1976).
Geertz, Clifford. Peddlers and Princes.
Chicago: University of Chicago, 1963. Entrepreneurs in Indonesia.
Hagen, Everett. The Economics of Development.
Homewood IL: Richard D. Irwin, 1968.
Jones, Leroy and Il Sakong. Government, Business
and Entrepreneurship in Economic Development: The Korean Case. Cambridge:
Council on East Asian Studies of Harvard University, 1980.
Barth, Frederick, The Role of the Entrepreneur in
Social Change in Northern Norway. Bergen: Norwegian Universities Press,
1962.
Marris, Peter and Anthony Somerset. African
Businessmen. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1971.
Cohen, Abner. Custom and Politics in Urban Africa.
Berkeley and Los Angeles: University of California, 1969.
Walton, Sam. 1992. Made in America. NY:
Doubleday. Autobiography of Walmart Tycoon. Ghost-written autobiography of the
retail mogul.
Trump, Donald. The Art of the Deal. Any
edition. Real estate tycoon brags about how clever he is. Look for the
sociology in this book; the author does not hand it to you.
Steve Balkin. 1989. Self-Employment for Low-Income
People. NY: Prager.
Bourgeois,
Philippe I. 1995. In Search of Respect: Selling Crack in El Barrio.
Cambridge: Harvard University.
Clark,
Peggy, and Amy Kays. 1999. Microenterprise and the Poor. Washington
D.C.: The Aspen Institute.
Collins, Jock, Katherine Gibson, Caroline Alcorso,
Stephen Castles, and David Tait. 1995. A Shop Full of Dreams: Ethnic Small
Business in Australia. Leichhardt: Pluto Press.
Cross,
John C..1998. Informal Politics: Street vendors and the state in Mexico City.
Stanford: Stanford University Press.
Duneier, Mitchell. 1999. Sidewalk
NY: Farrah, Strauss, and Giroux.
Fairlie,
W. Robert. 1999. Drugs and Legitimate Self-Employment. Department of
Economics University of California, Santa Cruz. April .
Green, Shelley and Paul Pryde. 1997. Black Entrepreneurship
in America. New Brunswick:
Transaction Publishers.
Kim,
Kwang Chung, ed. 1999. Koreans in the Hood: Conflict with African Americans. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins
University.
Light,
Ivan. 1972. Ethnic Enterprise in America. Los Angeles: University of
California.
Light,
Ivan, and Carolyn Rosenstein. 1995. Race, Ethnicity, and Entrepreneurship in
Urban America. Hawthorne NY: Aldine de Gruyter.
Metcalf,
Hilary, Tariq Modood and Satnam Virdee. 1997. Asian Self-Employment in
Britain. London: Policy Studies Institute.
Min,
Pyong Gap. 1996. Caught in the Middle: Korean Merchants in America’s
Multiethnic Cities. Los Angeles: University of California.
Portes,
Alejandro, and Robert Bach. 1985. Latin
Journey. Los Angeles: University of California.
Walker, Juliet E. K. 1998. The
History of Black Business in America
NY: Twayne.
Wong, Bernard.
1998. Ethnicity and
Entrepreneurship: The New Chinese Immigrants in the San Francisco Bay Area.
Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
Yoo, Jin-Kyung. 1999. Korean Immigrant Entrepreneurs.
New York: Garland.
Glossary #1
CAPITALISM: an
economic system in which want satisfaction wholly or chiefly derives from the
consumption of commodities produced for private profit by the method of
enterprise.
MARKET CAPITALISM: capitalist economic system
coordinated by markets.
CAPITALISTIC:
a capitalist method, e.g. production of commodities for profit by firms
employing rational cost accounting.
MODES OF PRODUCTION:
slave, serf, capitalist, Asiatic, or socialist. A Marxist category referring broadly to the
technology of production and the method of exploitation employed.
EXPLOITATION:
appropriation of labor or labor's product without full compensation.
Popularly: poorly paid workers. In Marxist economics, exploitation is profit as
a share of wages.
MERCHANT:
someone who buys commodities then resells them for more than he
originally paid, but who does not produce commodities.
COMMODITIES:
goods or services produced for sale rather than for use.
FACTORS OF PRODUCTION: land, labor and capital as commodities.
WAGES: money
return on labor as a commodity. When
demand is high, wages are high; when supply exceeds demand, wages drop.
RENT: money
return on land as a commodity. Rate of
return depends on market conditions as above.
INTEREST:
money return on capital as a commodity.
Interest rate is high when demand for capital exceeds demand, and the
interest rate falls as opposite conditions emerge.
WAGE WORKER:
a person who sells his or her labor and receives wages in compensation.
LANDLORD: a
person who rents his or her land, and receives rent in compensation.
CAPITALIST: a
person who sells use of his or her money, and receives interest in
compensation. Rate of interest depends
upon market conditions as above.
ENTREPRENEUR:
someone who buys land, labor, and capital, combines them to fashion a
commodity then sells her/his his
commodity. For example, a garment
entrepreneur rents a loft, hires workers, and supplies them with sewing
machines paid for by capital he borrowed from the bank. The workers produce their goods, which are
sold, thus enabling the sewing factory operator to pay his bills, pay his own
labor cost, and possibly to earn a profit.
PROFIT: money
left over after all the charges of production have been paid--including the
labor charge of the entrepreneur.
MARKET: the
very large class of persons who buy and sell particular commodities as, for
example, all the people in the world who buy or sell milk: "the market for milk." The concept
does not have a restricted geographical referent.
FREE MARKET: a
market in which unrestricted supply and demand determine the fluctuating price
at which a willing buyer and willing seller exchange money for commodities.
PRICE-MAKING MARKET:
a market in which the free interplay of supply and demand determines
price.
MARKETPLACE: where people regularly gather to exchange
goods and services, whether on a commoditized or non-commoditized basis. The
marketplace is a specific location e.g.. the New York Stock Exchange.
SUPPLY: the
availability of commodities at different prices in the market. When prices are high, many commodities are
available to be purchased.
DEMAND: the
number of units of various commodities which buyers will consume at differing
prices. When prices are low, buyers
consume many of any commodity. When
prices are high, buyers consume less.
CALLING: also a "vocation." A calling is
divine obligation to pursue an occupation, originally a clerical occupation,
but, after Luther, extended as well to secular occupations. "Luther's
conception of the calling" extended this religious obligation to secular
occupations from clerical ones.
WORLDLY ASCETICISM: This is Weber's term for the
practice of living in the secular world, and practicing an occupation, but
refraining from consuming what one earns. It is the practice of voluntary
simplicity and frugality by those who have the means to live better. Worldly
asceticism should be contrasted with clerical asceticism, which was the
pre-Reformation model.
PREDESTINATION: John Calvin's theological doctrine. It
proclaimed that people are born saved or damned; their good works or lack
thereof in their lifetimes are irrelevant to their subsequent salvation. Weber
thought this doctrine put believers in a state of high anxiety that caused them
to look for external signs as to their salvation status.
Glossary #2
Paul Wilken, Entrepreneurship
Entrepreneurship: In the aggregate, the quantity and
quality of entrepreneurs in societies. Alternatively, the individual's
possession of entrepreneurial qualities.
Entrepreneurial supply: the rate of entrepreneurship
at various levels of financial return.
Entrepreneurial aggressiveness: how hard the
entrepreneurs work. This is best measured by hours per week, weeks per year,
and years per lifetime.
Entrepreneurial effectiveness: how effectively the
entrepreneurs work. Effectiveness means joining means and ends in an efficient
manner. The continuum is from effective to ineffective. Example: picking up one
fallen leaf at a time is a less effective way of clearing the ground than is
using a rake. Effectiveness includes measures to increase life span in order to
maximize aggressiveness.
Causal significance: entrepreneurship is causally
significant when entrepreneurship acts as an independent factor of production
that strengthens or retards economic development. It is causally insignificant
when entrepreneurship does not affect economic development.
Definitional significance: entrepreneurship is
definitionally significant when small and medium, privately-owned firms produce
economic growth.
Economic growth: accretion of productive means in
whole societies. Often crudely and misleadingly measured by increases in GNP or
GDP.
Cost accounting:
keeping written track of assets and liabilities chargeable to specific
activities, especially by the method of double entry bookkeeping.
===========
END SOCIOLOGY 172 Course Syllabus =============