'We’re the biggest student movement in Finland since the 1970s!': a practice-based study of student Entrepreneurship Societies

Recent studies have utilized practice theories to understand various aspects of entrepreneurship, but there is lack of studies that aim to understand the phenomenon of entrepreneurship beyond individuals labelled as entrepreneurs doing entrepreneurship. This chapter aims to gather a better understanding about organizations that work to promote entrepreneurship, focusing on student Entrepreneurship Society (ES) organizations in Finland. Using ethnography, it shows how within the practices enacted during a get-together event the organizations were constructed as a student movement that aims to wake up entrepreneurial latencies within students. Within the observed practices, little space was given to negotiating what is understood by entrepreneurship and why it is promoted. Multiple ideals emerged, such as valuing ‘doing’, but aiming to stay clear of ‘politics’. The phenomenon of Entrepreneurship Societies is interpreted to tell about the dispersion and power of entrepreneurship discourse and ideology – and as a means of their further dispersion.