Overview

This book addresses marginalization as a form of disempowerment – social, economic, and political exclusion that prevents people from realizing their potential. In response, it explores how organizations can foster empowerment, focusing on Social Business Hybrids (SBHs), which use market-based strategies to activate the economic capabilities of marginalized people. However, such empowerment only succeeds under specific conditions, especially in relation to the environments – or ""loci"" – where SBHs operate. The book aims to understand both the transformative actions SBHs undertake and the contexts in which these actions occur. Drawing from the Capabilities Approach (Sen, Nussbaum, Kabeer) and Community Psychology (Rappaport), the authors develop a framework integrating two key concepts: The empowering role of organizations and an ecological perspective that considers the relevance of social spaces. They identify two main types of SBH actions: ""creation empowerment"" and ""access empowerment"", and two types of empowerment spaces: ""safe spaces"" and ""open spaces for reconnection"". These dimensions come together in the proposed SBH Empowering Matrix, which outlines four strategies – safe creation, open creation, safe access, and open access. Each is illustrated through a dedicated case study, providing practical insights into how SBHs can unlock the potential of marginalized people. The Open Access version of this book, available at http://www.taylorfrancis.com, has been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives (CC BY-NC-ND) 4.0 license.

Full Product Details

9781041132677

Table of Contents

Reviews

“This is a timely, intellectually stimulating book that forces the reader to think. The Authors write in favour of an alternative and new way of helping marginalized people. The novelty consists in the activation of the economic capabilities of disadvantaged persons. This is a jargon-free book that will capture the attention of anyone seriously interested in transferring into practice the universal principle of human dignity and in trying to implement a new welfare model.” Stefano Zamagni, Professor of Economics, University of Bologna, Adjunct Professor at SAIS Europe of the Johns Hopkins University

Author Information

Luca Mongelli is an Assistant Professor at L'Aquila University and Scientific Coordinator of the Markets, Culture and Ethics (MCE) Research Centre at the Pontifical University of the Holy Cross in Rome, Italy. Francesco Rullani is Full Professor and Scientific Director of the Impact Unit of the Yunus Social Business Centre Venice at Venice School of Management, Ca' Foscari University, Italy.

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