Family entrepreneurship as a social resource for increasing employment of Russian families

Abstract

The subject of the article is the poorly studied to date social phenomenon of family entrepreneurship as a type of joint labor activities of family members, which improves the family’s standard of living. The phenomenon of family entrepreneurship is considered from the standpoint of the sociological approach in four perspectives: as a social process, as a type of collective work activity, as a form of group economic behavior of family members as a small group, and as a form of educational work on the formation of children’s needs and working skills. From the perspective of gender sociology family entrepreneurship is considered as a type of gender-neutral entrepreneurship, in which all family members can participate, regardless of gender attribute, but with different degrees of involvement in a family business. A positive prerequisite for the development of family entrepreneurship in the Russian market is the active integration of women in business and the development of gender-oriented entrepreneurship (male and female) in Russia. Each of these types, with its own experience, specifics, and dynamics of development, has a positive impact on the spread of family entrepreneurship. Based on the method of content analysis the degree of actualization of public and scientific attention to the problem of family entrepreneurship, scientific approaches to its study and the potential for further spread are revealed. The findings of the content analysis are supplemented by the results of narrative interviews with entrepreneurs revealing the degree of their understanding of the essence of family entrepreneurship, its strengths, and weaknesses, risks, and potential, the attitude of entrepreneurs to increasing economic activity of family members. The assessment of factors hindering the development of family entrepreneurship, its prospects, and expectations of forms of government assistance to this process is provided. The social potential of family entrepreneurship, its educational role in the formation of children’s labor skills, and intergenerational continuity of family business are emphasized in the research.

Keywords

• family entrepreneurship
• social resource
• employment
• the standard of living
• gender neutrality
• new gender order
• social functions