Interview with Andrew Popp, Editor-in-Chief of Enterprise and Society

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In my role as Communications Officer for the ABH I am sent many interesting initiatives to promote. One that really caught the eye towards the end of the year, was the announcement of a new 5th Edition from Enterprise and Society. With a promise to be a “special edition unlike most others”, and to provide a platform to help those in the Business History community address the big issues of the day on the premise that “our voices should be heard louder and further afield,” the aims and ambition of the initiative are striking. To discuss how the 5th edition is planning to deepen and widen debates whilst extending the reach and impact of the discipline, I was delighted to correspond with the Editor-in-Chief Andrew Popp.

Andrew, tell us about the aims and scope of the 5th issue? The aims of the new 5th issue of Enterprise and Society are undoubtedly ambitious. We aim to significantly broaden the scope of the dialogue we engage in as business historians. So serious, far reaching interdisciplinarity is one core aim. And we aim to significantly enhance the impact the field of business history has, both within and beyond academia. As scholars we study the development and role of what is, in my view, the dominant institution of our day, an institution that has been one of the most important agents for social, cultural, and economic change over the last two or three hundred years. At the same time, we are at a juncture, across the globe, at which history – the study of history, the understanding of history – has never seemed more relevant, more urgent, or more talked about. Everywhere I look in the media contemporary debates and issues are framed in terms of historical precedents and antecedents. The public are passionately interested gaining a better historical perspective on the choices we face. Given these conditions, this should be our moment as a scholarly community but somehow our voices are not being heard as loudly as they deserve to be. The new 5th issue aims to begin to address that, speaking – and listening – to a wider audience and by tackling big topics of the greatest societal importance and interest.

How is it different to other special issues? I certainly hope the new 5th issue is different from most special issues, and I hope it will generate something different. The hope is that the ambitious framing that I have just described will provoke equally ambitious contributions that address big topics in expansive, though-provoking ways. The first theme is ‘Histories of Business and Inequality.’ Inequality, taking many different forms, not just the economic, is one of the most pressing issues facing society today. We want to develop an understanding how business might have played a role in generating inequalities, as well as whether it ever has or can be a source of solutions. I think that choice of first theme should tell you something about our aspirations for this project. Those aspirations shaped a decision which really sets this initiative apart from most 4 special issues: the theme is chosen by the journal, through a highly collaborative process taking in the entire editorial team and our colleagues in the wider scholarly community. Teams of editors are then invited to submit bids to take the theme forward. I’ll readily admit that the journal wants to play an active role in setting the agenda.