An Essay on the Entrepreneurial War Machine

The purpose is to present and explore Deleuze and Guattari’s (1988) concept of the “war machine” in relation to the academic discourse on entrepreneurship in order to contribute with a nuanced understanding of the discourse’s centrality in contemporary societies as well as its consequences. Design/methodology/approach: The paper is conceptual in character and written in the form of an essay in order to capitalize upon the essay’s tentative and reflective epistemology. Findings: The academic discourse on entrepreneurship conceptualized as a war machine is found to be set up against the State apparatus and resisting State appropriation by 1) deprecating bureaucracy, 2) criticizing normative societal institutions, and 3) self-consciously mobilizing actors into a scholarly movement. The consequences of these forms of resistance are on one hand a discursive colonialization of the natural, and on the other hand the formation of a seemingly strong alloy between the academic discourse on entrepreneurship and neoliberal ideology/political agendas. Research/practical implications:The academic discourse on entrepreneurship conceptualized as a war machine draws attention to the discourse’s taken-for-granted notions about entrepreneurship as well as their consequences. As such the conceptualisation opens up for critical research on otherwise neglected or silenced empirical topics within research on entrepreneurship such as the formation of the academic discourse on entrepreneurship, the enrolment, socialisation, subjection and subjectification of researchers on entrepreneurship, and the discursive tactics of entrepreneurship researchers’ visavi the State apparatus. Originality/value:In line with the essayistic epistemology, the essay hopefully gives the reader the opportunity to reflect upon on neglected or silenced issues within the academic discourse on entrepreneurship.