Abstract
The article presents: a concept of a social enterprise from the European
and American perspective; interpretational misunderstandings connected
with equating a social enterprise only with the social aims of its functioning;
a lack of social enterprise criteria fulfillment by thousands of non-profit
organizations, foundations and associations in the Polish social and economic
reality; the position of a social enterprise in the humanizing theory of business.
The article also attempts to position a social enterprise in the theory of
confirmation and to find there a place for it from the point of view of the
European interpretation as well as the American one. It starts a discussion
about the research into social enterprises carried out by the authors.