Social Entrepreneurship

Ryszard Praszkier, Ph.D., is a researcher at the University of Warsaw Complex Systems Research Center. His main field of interest involves the mechanisms of profound peaceful transitions, including social-change processes facilitated by social entrepreneurs, with a special focus on the role and properties of social networks supporting durable social change. Dr Praszkier has authored several academic publications regarding how social entrepreneurs find innovative ways to approach intractable conflicts. For more than 15 years, he has worked for Ashoka, Innovators for the Public, an international association that promotes social entrepreneurship in more than 70 countries. Andrzej Nowak, Ph.D., is a professor and lecturer at the Florida Atlantic University, University of Warsaw (where he is the co-founder of the Institute for Social Studies and a founding director of the Complex Systems Research Center), Columbia University in New York and the Warsaw School of Social Sciences and Humanities (where he is the co-founder of the Institute of Social Psychology of Internet and Communication). Dr Nowak has written and contributed to a number of foundational theoretical books, monographs and articles in the fields of social psychology, dynamical social impact, social networks and dynamics of societal transition.

“Science can open a new line of understanding by observing phenomena closely. This is what is happening with Richard Praszkier and Andrzej Nowak’s book. It is a fascinating read that blends together cutting-edge scientific understanding with real life stories. It is a book that will not only explain but also invite much needed social change.” -- Andrea Bartoli, Columbia University

• Part I. Social Entrepreneurship: 1. Defining social entrepreneurship: an overview; 2. Dimensions of social entrepreneurship; 3. Identifying social entrepreneurship in practice; Part II. The Dynamics of Social Change: 4. Social change theories and dilemmas; 5. Equilibrium and complexity; 6. Theory of social emergence; Part III. Social Capital Built by Social Entrepreneurs: 7. Social capital; 8. Social networks: bedrock of social capital; 9. Personality traits that facilitate the building of social capital; Part IV. A New Kind of Leadership: 10. Social entrepreneurship: a dynamical account; 11. A new kind of leadership; 12. Addressing insurmountable problems and conflicts; Epilogue: the past and the future.