The New Entrepreneurs: How Race, Class, and Gender Shape American Enterprise

For many entrepreneurs, the American Dream remains only partially fulfilled. Unequal outcomes between the middle and lower classes, men and women, and Latino/as, whites, and blacks highlight continuing inequalities and constraints within American society. With a focus on a diverse group of Latino entrepreneurs, this book explores how class, gender, race, and ethnicity all shape Latino entrepreneurs' capacity to succeed in business in the United States. Bringing intersectionality into conversation with theories of ethnic entrepreneurship, Zulema Valdez considers how various factors create, maintain, and transform the social and economic lives of Latino entrepreneurs. While certain group identities may impose unequal, if not discriminatory, starting positions, membership in these same social groups can provide opportunities to mobilize resources together. Valdez reveals how Latino entrepreneurs--as members of oppressed groups on the one hand, yet rugged individualists striving for the American Dream on the other--work to recreate their own positions within American society.

Author: Zulema Valdez
Publisher: Stanford University Press
Published: 02/17/2011
Pages: 208
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.99h x 6.64w x 0.63d
ISBN: 9780804773218

Review Citation(s):
Reference and Research Bk News 06/01/2011 pg. 84

About the Author
Zulema Valdez is Assistant Professor of Sociology at Texas A&M University.