ABSTRACT
By recognising that entrepreneurs are social actors engaged in a tangled web of social interactions with many different players, this chapter explores the numerous social dimensions to entrepreneurial activity. It distinguishes between social and economic approaches to entrepreneurship, and assesses and examines critically some of the underpinning theories that help to explain the purpose of entrepreneurship in society. The chapter provides a critical discourse on key concepts of social capital, networks, social contexts, social legitimacy and culture, and how entrepreneurs and the innovation process are embedded in societies and their regional environments. It compares, contrasts and helps to establish the factors that explain how venture creation constitutes a social activity enabling economic development.
