The American Entrepreneurial Spirit

Abstract

This introduction to the special issue on the American entrepreneurial spirit sketches its significance to American culture. The entrepreneur is an important cultural archetype that reflects the zeitgeist. Accordingly, fears, anxieties, desires, and wishes may be projected onto the entrepreneur; the figure of the entrepreneur—and interpretations of the entrepreneur as a hero or villain—is thus a cultural barometer that provides insight into the American psyche.

Keywords

• entrepeneurship
• entrepreneurism
• American culture
• American studies
• extraction
• extractive industries