Opportunism and diversification : entrepreneurship and livelihood strategies in uncertain times
Abstract
As economic crisis deepens across Europe people are forced to find innovative strategies to accommodate circumstances of chronic uncertainty. Even with a second multi-billion euro bailout package secured for Greece, the prospects of a sustainable recovery in the near future look bleak. However, crisis has also created dynamic spaces for entrepreneurial opportunism and diversification resulting in social mobility, relocation, shifts in livelihood strategy and a burgeoning informal economy. Although economic systems are currently undergoing radical reassessment, social demands such as competitive consumption remain. Opportunities for investment in renewable energy programmes, especially photovoltaics, are also pervasive. By considering cases of business opportunism and livelihood diversification in relation to Max Weber's concept of wertrational and notions of uncertainty, this article brings new perspectives to strategies of negotiating the worst economic crisis in living memory.
Citation
Knight , D M 2015 , ' Opportunism and diversification : entrepreneurship and livelihood strategies in uncertain times ' , Ethnos , vol. 80 , no. 1 , pp. 117-144 . https://doi.org/10.1080/00141844.2013.822012
Publication
Ethnos
Status
Peer reviewed
ISSN
0014-1844Type
Journal article
Rights
Copyright 2013 The Author(s). Published by Taylor & Francis. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The moral rights of the named author(s) have been asserted.
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