This
paper reveals one of the most critical challenges faced by Spanish social
entrepreneurship: either prioritizing ethical, social and environmental objectives
or profit-seeking. Social entrepreneurship (those initiatives that pursue
social and environmental objectives as well as economic ones) has become a very
celebrated sector welcomed by political leaders, international corporations,
large financial actors and the public opinion alike. The motto that another economy is possible is gaining
momentum while an enormous number and variety of both public and private
promotional programs are fostering and energizing such promising sector in
practically any spot of the world. However, unlike more conventional
enterprises, social entrepreneurship face some crucial challenges due to its
own hybrid nature and the goal of making philanthropy
(i.e., ensuring the social and
environmental values) compatible with profit. A mixed-methods oriented research
conducted in Catalonia (Spain) reveals some of these contradictions and
challenges. As concluding remarks, we provide some clues to reconsider the
scope of social entrepreneurship under a different political economy framework.
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