Sociology of knowledge perspective on entrepreneurship
pp. 433-455
in: Roméo V. Turcan, Norman M. Fraser (eds), The Palgrave handbook of multidisciplinary perspectives on entrepreneurship, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
Turcan addresses one of the enduring questions in sociology of knowledge: how is it possible that subjective meanings become objective facticities? Turcan adopts this question to understand the entrepreneurship phenomenon, more specifically, how new business or venture ideas and new sectors or industries (as subjective meanings) are legitimated and institutionalized (become socially established as reality). The author builds on Berger and Luckmann's work and suggests an alternative order objectivation of meaning to understand the entrepreneurship phenomenon. Turcan conjectures considering legitimation as a first-order objectivation of meaning, whereas institutionalization constitutes a second-order objectivation of meaning when researching entrepreneurship. Turcan introduces the legitimation typology to frame the discussion around the process of creation, legitimation, and institutionalization of newness. The author concludes the chapter by proposing a grand theory of legitimation.