Challenging the assumptions of social entrepreneurship education and repositioning it for the future: Wonders of cultural, social, symbolic and economic capitals

Purpose: Social entrepreneurship education (SEE) is gaining increasing attention globally. Our paper focuses on how social entrepreneurship education may be better understood and reconfigured from a Bourdieusian capital perspective with an emphasis on the process of mobilizing and transforming social entrepreneurs’ cultural, social, economic and symbolic resources. Design/Methodology/Approach: Drawing on qualitative research with a sample of social entrepreneurship educators and mentors, we generate insights into the significance of challenging assumptions and establishing values and principles and hence that of developing a range of capitals (using the Bourdieusian notion of capital) for social entrepreneurship education. Findings: Our findings highlight the significance of developing a range of capitals and their transformative power for social entrepreneurship education. In this way, learners can develop dispositions for certain forms of capitals over others and transform them to each other in becoming reflexive social agents. Originality/Value: We respond to the calls for critical thinking in entrepreneurship education and contribute to the field by developing a reflexive approach to social entrepreneurship education. We also make recommendations to educators, who are tasked with implementing such an approach in pursuit of raising the next generations of social entrepreneurs