O alquimista: um “sujeito periférico” no circuito do empreendedorismo social

Based on the dialogue with a social entrepreneur and “peripheral subject” from the south of São Paulo, I address in this article the contradictions of the practice of entrepreneurship in popular experience. Under the impact of the changes felt in the periphery following the transformations in the world of work and the “inclusion through consumption”, João Vicente’s account reveals a renewal of activism in dialogue with forms of social entrepreneurship. Oppressed by the world of work and driven by a utopia of freedom, peripheral young people find themselves caught between the precariousness of their alternatives and the need to generate income. The core of the text follows the trajectory of João Vicente and his itineraries between social classes, peripheral culture, and political engagement. Finally, I conclude that the adoption of entrepreneurship among young people from peripheral territories is the result of new conditions of sociability in urban peripheries between suffering and expectations for the future.