This thesis examines the role of personal agency in the cultural worker’s experience of entrepreneurship. The thesis is a response to a call for further empirical studies capturing the lived experience of cultural work and of entrepreneurship (See Banks, 2006; Gill and Pratt, 2008; Hesmondhalgh and Baker, 2011; and Steyaert and Hjorth, 2006). I am inspired by an emerging literature which seeks to re-invent entrepreneurship by placing it within a social context, including being ‘enterprising’ for counter-cultural activities or for ‘good’ work (morally, ethically and practically), and female entrepreneurship. I draw on the academic disciplines of cultural studies, cultural policy studies and entrepreneurship studies as a context for this empirical research. By exploring the lived experience of cultural entrepreneurship I focus on the worker’s position and personal agency within a milieu. Day-to-day activities reveal a pragmatic approach to managing the challenges of cultural work, and the possibility for ‘rethinking cultural entrepreneurship’ (Oakley, 2014). The cultural entrepreneur’s capacity for reflexivity emerges as a means of subverting or negotiating entrepreneurial modes of work. Identity and myths are challenged by discussing ideas of performing the entrepreneur, or counteracting popular stereotypes. My research approach encourages individuals to construct their story within this dynamic context, a space they shape as well as being shaped by it.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:667665 |
| Date | January 2015 |
| Creators | Naudin, Annette |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/73086/ |
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