START! UP? THE STARTUP ENTREPRENEUR OF INFORMATIONAL CAPITALISM
Author: Nobre Cavalcante, Fernando , fernandocavalcante@gmail.com
Department: Sociology
University: Federal University of Ceara (UFC), Brazil
Supervisor: Prof. Dr. Jawdat Abu-el-Haj
Year of completion: 2015
Language of dissertation: Portuguese
Keywords:
Start-ups
, Informationalism
, Innovation
, Entrepreneurship
Areas of Research:
Economy and Society
, Sociocybernetics
, Science and Technology
Abstract
In Brazil, and more recently in the city of Fortaleza, there is a new form of entrepreneurship that is focused on the information and communication technology service sector and that draws the attention of young people, investors, governments, authors and media companies: it is known as the start-up movement. Today, it is considered to be a driving force behind the creative economy. Rooted on progressive discourse, the words enterprise and innovation seduce new economic agents motivated by success stories from Silicon Valley in America along with increasing commercial activity for digital goods and services. This master’s dissertation assesses, from a sociological point of view, the new productive wave problematized by the light of Manuel Castells’ informational capitalism. Considering the skeptical as well as the optimistic opinions about the impact of this new entrepreneurial rearrangement, the following question is asked: does the startup movement rekindle the capitalist spirit or does it present roots which divert from its speculating essence? The raised hypotheses are based on employability factors as well as cultural, economical, and political matters related to innovation and technology. This study has produced a nationwide quantitative assessment with a special focus on the reality of these Ceará firms; as well as comparative qualitative interviews on American and Brazilian experiences lived by identified agents. This dissertation outlines the public incentive policy of the federal government, the Start-up Brasil Program, from the perspective of these companies and provides details as to the discipline methods of the new enterprising way born in the United States. The start-ups are very young companies that are headed towards the economic sustainment of the productive sector services. These companies are dropping the seeds that will produce the re-enchantment of young people and bring them back to participation in political debate; they provide relief and reheats the job market; and they produce a democratization of the entrepreneurial “Do-It-Yourself” culture. They capitalize the pivot of the wall street wolves and of agents being charged for new masks. There are developmental logic’s prophylaxis in the face of dreadful innovation stagnation. The lack of continuity and transparency in Brazilian governmental politics and cultural nuances related to entrepreneurship are barring the desired regional success of this ecosystem.
