'Don't forget to like, share and subscribe' : Digital autopreneurs in a neoliberal world

Ashman, Rachel and Patterson, Anthony and Brown, Stephen (2018) 'Don't forget to like, share and subscribe' : Digital autopreneurs in a neoliberal world. Journal of Business Research, 92. 474 - 483. ISSN 0148-2963

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Abstract

We seek to move beyond the exalted figure of the heroic entrepreneur that predominates the study of entrepreneurship; to take a less agentic view of entrepreneurship; to tell stories rarely told, and to demonstrate how historical and technocultural forces are as instrumental in directing entrepreneurial activity as individual motivations. We enlist the work of Foucault and others, in conjunction with netnographic fieldwork that focuses on an assemblage of young YouTubers striving to become what we call autopreneurs. We reveal how they internalize a structure of feeling, divined from neoliberal ideology that shapes their everyday affairs. We find that three main wellsprings – the dynamics of competition, the creativity dispositif, and technologies of the self – detrimentally affect the quality of their lives and collectively institute a ‘cruel optimism’ which promises much but delivers little. We conclude with some thoughts on the ramifications of our work for the study of entrepreneurship.

Item Type:
Journal Article
Journal or Publication Title:
Journal of Business Research
Uncontrolled Keywords:
/dk/atira/pure/subjectarea/asjc/1400/1406
Subjects:
?? neoliberalismentrepreneurshipyoutubesubjectivitycriticalmarketing ??
ID Code:
142085
Deposited By:
Deposited On:
04 Mar 2020 14:40
Refereed?:
Yes
Published?:
Published
Last Modified:
13 Sep 2024 14:37