The Facts About Small Business and the Real Values of Its ‘Life World’: A Social Philosophical Interpretation of This Sector of the Modem Economy

A bstract . According to a line of European social philosophers from Marx to Habermas, the development of society is characterized by a process of rationalization, accompanied by alienation and objectification of labor and human relations , and more generally a degradation of what Jürgen Habermashas called the person's “life world.” But the facts about small and medium sized business, as disclosed by empirical investigation, offer a different picture, one of small and medium size enterprises (SME) with a number of attributes associated with social organization on a small scale, of e.g., personality and independence. These can provide a counterweight to its disadvantages and limitations and therefore can be seen as values from a social philosophical point of view. Economically the same attributes make SME vulnerable to the market power and competition of big business. The new technology offers threats to SME, but also opportunities.