ABSTRACT

The concept of social enterprise, as well as that of social entrepreneurship, were introduced in Sweden in the 1990s and have since then become increasingly common in practice, policy and academy. This chapter is based on many years of research on social enterprise, social entrepreneurship and civil society, as well as work on “mainstream” entrepreneurship, where business logic dominates the field. The chapter starts with a description of Swedish historical trajectory. During the 19th century, poor people’s protests were partly hearkened by an emerging middle class that was influenced by an international humanistic movement. The interest in non-profit social enterprises has also increased recently; this trend is particularly linked to the increased interest in private social-service providers in welfare-policy areas.