ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses evolutionary theory in order to increase our understanding of several phenomena. These are the start and growth of social entrepreneurship; the relationship between social entrepreneurs and their ecosystems; the path dependencies that lead to diversity, context specificity, radiation, and other forms of pluralism; and societal embedding of social entrepreneurship as an evolutionary process. The chapter focuses on the evolution of social entrepreneurship in Europe, and how these processes differ in various national and local contexts and different periods of history. Grounded theory analysis has yielded interesting data on the coevolution and path dependencies of Social enterprises and their ecosystems. Participants in the Enabling the Flourishing and Evolution of Social Entrepreneurship for Innovative and Inclusive Societies project, for instance, were initially encouraged to adopt an evolutionary perspective via inspiration papers. The chapter provides a theoretical framework that is based on three of Charles Darwin's most important concepts: variation, selection, and heredity.
