ABSTRACT
This chapter explores solidarity between minority women entrepreneurs and their communities, and the social ideology that can undermine the confidence necessary for women to initiate entrepreneurial enterprises. It presents an overview of sociological theory and specific empirical data that explains how sociology uncovers non-obvious explanations of persistent inequality. To explore both the economic and cultural dimensions of entrepreneurship, the chapter understands how the individual acquires a personal identity over time and within a variety of social contexts. The chapter explains the transformations of selves through such social rituals as baby showers, weddings, funerals, graduations, and bar/bat mitzvahs, with material exchanges situated in ritualized, highly symbolic practices. Sociology, like all disciplines, developed over time and originated from many different sources, both ancient and modern. Historically, sociological scholarship has emphasized the status characteristics of race and ethnicity, with gender being a recently added category.
