Abstract

Nepal’s population is a mosaic of 125 castes and ethnic groups, disproportionally represented in different spheres of public life. Two of them, Brahmins and Chhetris, are predominant in all sectors. Social entrepreneurship in Nepal remains under-explored by the scientific community. This paper addresses this gap by analysing the caste identity of Nepal’s leading social entrepreneurs. The critical question it addresses is: does the field that tackles social problems reflect this social stratification? To address this question, I combine quantitative and qualitative approaches and draw on the theory of social identity, in-depth interviews, expert interviews, desk research, and surveys. Conducted on a group of 51 social entrepreneurs, this study revealed that 53% of them are Brahmins/Chhetris while 47% are of other ethnic backgrounds. This suggests that the studied field is over-represented by Brahmins and Chhetris and that participation of various ethnic groups in it is not proportional.

摘要

尼泊尔人口由 125 个种姓和民族组成，在公共生活的不同领域所占比例不成比例。其中两个人，婆罗门和切特里，在所有部门都占主导地位。尼泊尔的社会企业家精神仍未得到科学界的充分探索。本文通过分析尼泊尔主要社会企业家的种姓身份来解决这一差距。它解决的关键问题是：解决社会问题的领域是否反映了这种社会分层？为了解决这个问题，我结合了定量和定性的方法，并利用了社会认同理论、深度访谈、专家访谈、案头研究和调查。这项研究对 51 名社会企业家进行了研究，结果显示，其中 53% 是婆罗门/切特里人，而 47% 是其他种族背景。