This article contributes to a deeper understanding of the role of capitalism in sustainability transitions by exploring the potential of green entrepreneurs to cultivate alternative economic forms. To this end, we will introduce the classic sociological concept of the spirit of capitalism to sustainability transition research and bring it into dialogue with the concept of economic alterity. Based on qualitative case studies of nine green entrepreneurs, we examine how sustainability motives and capitalist meaning structures are blended in the mindsets of the ecopreneurs. Overall, the economic mentalities of the green ecopreneurs we examined can be characterised as a “green spirit of capitalism”, in the sense of a positive interconnection between capitalist principles and environmental goals. While the ecopreneurs repeatedly broke with capitalist principles in specific situations – for example by sacrificing growth potential or competitive advantages in favour of positive environmental impact – in none of the case studies was the capitalist economic mentality surmounted in any substantial way. This is due to specific stabilisation mechanisms belonging to the capitalist spirit that consolidate the respondents’ economic mentalities in cases of conflict between environmental and economic goals.

中文翻译：

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经济差异与资本主义的绿色精神——论绿色创业的陷阱


本文通过探索绿色企业家培育替代经济形式的潜力，有助于更深入地了解资本主义在可持续转型中的作用。为此，我们将资本主义精神这一经典社会学概念引入可持续转型研究中，并与经济相异性概念进行对话。基于对九位绿色企业家的定性案例研究，我们研究了可持续发展动机和资本主义意义结构如何在生态企业家的思维方式中融合。总体而言，我们考察的绿色生态企业家的经济心态可以被描述为“资本主义的绿色精神”，即资本主义原则与环境目标之间的积极联系。尽管生态企业家在特定情况下一再打破资本主义原则——例如通过牺牲增长潜力或竞争优势来支持积极的环境影响——但在所有案例研究中都没有以任何实质性方式超越资本主义经济心态。这是由于属于资本主义精神的特定稳定机制在环境目标与经济目标发生冲突时巩固了受访者的经济心态。