In this chapter, we focus on language and gender in the context of entrepreneurship amidst the resonances of post-socialist transformation. Keeping in mind the intimate interconnection between capitalism and patriarchy, we present a case study that allows us to consider female entrepreneurial practices in Serbia, aimed at shedding light on the interrelations of gender ideologies, feminist discourses, business models and neoliberal work settings. Specifically, we set out to investigate the ways in which neoliberal discourses focused on empowerment and balance may be interiorized in this setting, and consider the presence of different cultural models shaping their attitudes favoring the “social struggle” narrative. We approach women’s entrepreneurial practice via a close analysis of women’s own narratives of success, drawing on the open methodologies of grounded theory and sociolinguistic narrative network. Our case study indicates that rather than “redoing” gender in the business world, as suggested by some theorists, women entrepreneurs in Serbia may also simply “do” gender in their business ideologies and discursive practices. A specifically constructed “ethics of care” turned out to be at the core of our interlocutors’ personal and professional identities, showing competing notions of social change, progress and tradition, care and community, which do not always go along predictable ideological lines.

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Women’s Agency Between Neoliberal Capitalism and Ethics of Care: A Case Study of Gender and Language in Doing ‘Entrepreneurial Womanhood’ in Serbia

  • Ana Kuzmanović Jovanović,
  • Jelena Filipović

摘要

In this chapter, we focus on language and gender in the context of entrepreneurship amidst the resonances of post-socialist transformation. Keeping in mind the intimate interconnection between capitalism and patriarchy, we present a case study that allows us to consider female entrepreneurial practices in Serbia, aimed at shedding light on the interrelations of gender ideologies, feminist discourses, business models and neoliberal work settings. Specifically, we set out to investigate the ways in which neoliberal discourses focused on empowerment and balance may be interiorized in this setting, and consider the presence of different cultural models shaping their attitudes favoring the “social struggle” narrative. We approach women’s entrepreneurial practice via a close analysis of women’s own narratives of success, drawing on the open methodologies of grounded theory and sociolinguistic narrative network. Our case study indicates that rather than “redoing” gender in the business world, as suggested by some theorists, women entrepreneurs in Serbia may also simply “do” gender in their business ideologies and discursive practices. A specifically constructed “ethics of care” turned out to be at the core of our interlocutors’ personal and professional identities, showing competing notions of social change, progress and tradition, care and community, which do not always go along predictable ideological lines.