Empowering or excluding? A cultural perspective on how the entrepreneurship industry reinforces privilege

Abstract

While the entrepreneurship industry presents itself as a supporter of entrepreneurial activity, mounting evidence shows it also fosters over-entry, disproportionately valorizes high-growth ventures, and contributes to declining venture quality. To illuminate how these unintended consequences arise, we draw on Bourdieu’s and Swidler’s cultural theories of action to develop a framework that explains how the entrepreneurship industry shapes the perceived opportunity space of prospective entrepreneurs and, in turn, their choices. We argue that the industry, together with the media, promotes a biased cultural register that elevates a narrow set of entrepreneurs and opportunities. This biased register aligns more closely with the habitus and reflexivity of privileged individuals, enabling them to mobilize cultural toolkits in pursuit of high-growth opportunities. In contrast, it resonates less with the experiences of non-privileged individuals, steering them toward lower-growth opportunities. Over time, these dynamics become self-reinforcing, as privileged individuals’ engagement with high-growth opportunities and non-privileged individuals’ pursuit of lower-growth opportunities reaffirm cultural biases. Our work contributes to research on the entrepreneurship industry and cultural entrepreneurship by outlining a cultural logic that sheds light on how entrepreneurs internalize biased industry norms and how such norms are perpetuated. It also calls on industry leaders, media, and policymakers to broaden the cultural milieu of entrepreneurship by fostering more inclusive and grounded understandings of what entrepreneurship is, who can succeed, and how.