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Research Paper | Information Technology | Volume 15 Issue 8, August 2026 | Pages: 144 - 151 | India
Sociology of Entrepreneurship: Why Young People Choose Startups
Abstract: Entrepreneurship is usually explained in economic or psychological terms as a response to market opportunity, or as the expression of an unusual personality. This paper argues that the recent movement of young people towards startups is better understood sociologically, as an outcome of social structure, networks, capital and cultural meaning. Drawing on Weber, Schumpeter, Granovetter's embeddedness thesis, Bourdieu's forms of capital, Shapero and Sokol's displacement model and theories of individualisation, it develops a four-level framework linking macro conditions, meso networks, micro household influence and the self-understanding of the young founder. Pull factors autonomy, meaning, wealth and status are distinguished from push factors such as credential inflation and the congestion of good jobs, and the unequal distribution of the resources that make founding possible is examined through failure stigma, gendered constraints and family expectation. A five-phase mixed-methods design is proposed. All numerical values in figures are illustrative composites intended to support conceptual understanding rather than to report primary findings.
Keywords: sociology of entrepreneurship, youth aspiration, social capital, embeddedness, startup ecosystem, risk and individualisation, occupational choice
How to Cite?: Parush Vohra, Raghu Raja Mehra, "Sociology of Entrepreneurship: Why Young People Choose Startups", Volume 15 Issue 8, August 2026, International Journal of Science and Research (IJSR), Pages: 144-151, https://www.ijsr.net/getabstract.php?paperid=SR26731105022, DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.21275/SR26731105022