Social entrepreneurship from margin to centre: Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper’s contributions in transforming society through practices of opening up

This article explores social entrepreneurship (SE) historically, focusing on the interplay between the US entrepreneurial state, WWII geopolitics, and shifting gender roles. Drawing on the historiography of Rear Admiral Grace Murray Hopper, it traces how SE has historically unfolded as a collective, collaborative, and open endeavour capable of driving social transformation. Hopper’s work in computing reveals three situated SE practices: stepping into the labour market, engaging in creative problem-solving in the margins, and building community through reaching out. By engaging bell hooks’s concept of the margin as a space of radical openness, the article shows how women were granted access to centre in ways that redefined possibilities for transformation. Hopper’s SE made programming languages accessible rather than monopolized systems and challenged gendered boundaries in the ICT field. The article highlights the changing meanings of SE over time and reclaims its roots in democratic, inclusive practices that enable broader social transformations.