Social problems are characterized by extreme complexity, but it is that very same complexity that provides a way to achieve large-scale social change by exerting a disproportionately small force. Analyzing and exploring this principle will be the main focus of this chapter. We will present the theoretical framework of the complexity approach, which illustrates the complex social-system change fostered by social entrepreneurs.

It was in the early 1990s, much before the booming interest in social entrepreneurship, that Waddock & Post (1991) noted that social entrepreneurs recognize the complexity of social problems and use their understanding to become catalysts in the change process, that is to say, agents that engender significant changes with surprisingly limited resources. A deep understanding of social systems is central to the effectiveness of social entrepreneurs who are trying to effect change, and this knowledge can substitute for the lack of resources necessary for imposing change in a direct way. Pushing for change directly by applying an external force strong enough to overcome the resistance of the social system stands in sharp contrast to the entrepreneur's “catalytic” approach, which relies on facilitating a natural process. In other words, instead of acting against the forces existing in the system, social entrepreneurs, aided by their deep knowledge, use the forces within the system to achieve change by searching for the smallest and simplest possible impulses and rules.