This paper refers to analitical considerations developped during the research about entrepreneurs of Bahia (Brazil). The work gideline relies on a strong emphasis on j the role of the actors' mentality in the relation to their economic performance both in the firm and in the community, as well as in other type of organizations. The focus is to discuss the social commitment of the economic elite members, contrasting social action in the firm and action in the social environment; that is to say, when reestructuration processes and modernization in business could be, hopefully, combined with participation through civic action. This required a specific discussion about the constitutive elements which inform the construction of the analytical category of entrepreneur, its internal attributes and the place of this notion in the system analysis about stratification and social action, both from an approach concerning material production and social interaction of the actors in social groups. Therefore, the analytical category of entrepreneur is discussed within the process of construction of a research object, refering it to the supporting analytical categories of sôcial capital and civic commitment