Full Citation

Title: Unpacking Indigenous Social Mobility: Entrepreneurs, Social Networks, and Connections to Culture

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2023

ISBN:

ISSN: 0007-6503

DOI: 10.1177/00076503231219691

NSFID:

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Abstract: In settler societies, upward social mobility by Indigenous people is seen in the growth of successful professional and entrepreneurial classes where both wealth creation and social power are significant resources. Yet, public and academic discourses perpetuate the belief that social mobility impacts negatively on Indigenous people by placing cultural identity in conflict with capitalist business practices. Using data from an international comparison consisting of interviews with 220 Indigenous entrepreneurs in research sites across three countries, this article shows that the belief is unfounded and reveals how this duality creates an impossible tension when Indigenous cultural identity is framed as “at risk” because of social mobility. A discursive colonial mind-set remains a central, enduring and problematic organizing principle of the field of Indigenous social mobility, one that requires a shift in the kinds of research questions that are asked and the ways in which social mobility is ultimately defined.

Url: http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/00076503231219691

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Authors: Côté, Rochelle; Evans, Michelle

Periodical (Full): Business & Society

Issue:

Volume: 62

Pages: 1-42

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Race and Ethnicity, Work, Family, and Time

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