Latino/a professionals as entrepreneurs: how race, class, and gender shape entrepreneurial incorporation. Issue 9 (14th July 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Agius Vallejo, Jody; Canizales, Stephanie L.
• Is Part Of: Ethnic and racial studies. Volume 39:Issue 9(2016)
• Page Start: 1637
• Page End: 1656
• Publication Date: 2016-07-14
• Subjects: Professional Latino/a entrepreneurs -- entrepreneurial incorporation -- ethnic capitalists -- coethnic middleman minorities -- hidden financial capital -- entrepreneurial pathways; Race -- Periodicals; Race relations -- Periodicals; Ethnic groups -- Periodicals; 305.805
• DOI: 10.1080/01419870.2015.1126329
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0141-9870

Abstract

ABSTRACT: This paper examines how race, class, and gender intersect to shape professional Latinos' entrepreneurial incorporation, as observed by the conditions that prompt professional Latinos to start a business, including access to capital and experiences with discrimination. In-depth interviews with professional Latino business owners in Los Angeles reveal that individual human capital – via resources and wealth accrued through corporate careers – facilitates entrepreneurial activity. Race, ethnicity, and gender, as intersectional social group identities, combine with class to shape variegated impacts on access to capital and business experiences by gender and target market. Ethnicity is a resource for those serving the coethnic community and is more significant in shaping business ownership experiences for men who target a racially/ethnically diverse clientele, whereas gender and race are more salient for women outside the coethnic community. This study contributes to the ethnic enterprise literature by going beyond ethnicity to demonstrate that multiple dimensions of identity shape professional Latino/as' entrepreneurial incorporation.