Entrepreneurship as empowerment: Agency, racial counterframing, and black business owners' decision-making processes

Entrepreneurship is often touted as one of the unique economic possibilities of U.S. society, and an opportunity that represents American ideals of individualism and financial gain. Yet sociological researchers have long noted challenges associated with opportunities for entrepreneurship among various groups. While much research acknowledges the existence of racial differences in rates and patterns of entrepreneurship, these studies rarely consider whether racial differences are present in nascent entrepreneurs motivations for pursuing business ownership. Rather than emphasizing the structural causes that facilitate or stifle ethnic entrepreneurship, we consider minority business owners' agency in defining and constructing the social significance of entrepreneurship. In this paper, we focus on the ways black entrepreneurs use racial counterframes to shape various aspects of the entrepreneurial process. We argue here that vis-à-vis these counterframes, black business owners construct entrepreneurship not simply as a potential pathway to economic stability, but perhaps more importantly, as a response to existing racial inequality.