Sociology of Knowledge Perspective on Entrepreneurship

This chapter addresses one of the enduring questions in sociology of knowledge: how is it possible that subjective meanings become objective facticities? It adopts this question to understand the entrepreneurship phenomenon, and, more specifically, to understand how new business or venture ideas and new sectors or industries (as subjective meanings) are legitimated and institutionalized (become socially established as reality). Building on Berger and Luckmann’s Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge, the chapter suggests an alternative order objectivation of meaning to understand entrepreneurship phenomenon. Specifically, it conjectures considering legitimation as a first-order objectivation of meaning, whereas institutionalization constitutes a second-order objectivation of meaning when researching entrepreneurship. For this purpose, the chapter introduces the legitimation typology to frame the discussion around the process of creation, legitimation, and institutionalization of newness. It concludes by proposing a grand theory of legitimation.