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The value of emerging ideas of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship have stimulated significant normative debates amongst both scholars and third sector practitioners. While proponents suggest that these new concepts provide opportunities for the third sector to increase its impact and sustainability, detractors decry the popularity of social enterprise as the encroachment of neoliberal ideology into the sphere of civil society. Central to both sides of this debate is a presumption that social enterprise is predominantly characterised by the application of business norms to third sector activity. In this paper, we examine the narratives of social enterprise practice based on in-depth interviews with practitioners from seven Australian social enterprises. Based on our findings, we argue for a more nuanced understanding of social enterprise, which recognises both conservatising and transformative impulses occuring within civil society in a global era.