Social entrepreneurship has become increasingly developed in the last few decades and has been recognized as an important form of entrepreneurship, which opens up ideas and opportunities for a new and different way of solving social problems that have become more frequent and complex over the years. This paper presents the historical development of social entrepreneurship in the world, from the very beginnings and first definitions of this concept, to the role of the European Union in the development of social entrepreneurship and its implementation in the politics of member states. The development of social entrepreneurship in Croatia has been described since phenomenon appearance, till the introduction of the Social Entrepreneurship Development Strategy. Paper defines the concept of social entrepreneurship, its types, advantages and disadvantages and the difference between social and traditional entrepreneurship, as well as the concept of social entrepreneurs and enterprises. The institutional framework of social entrepreneurship in Croatia is described through the legal framework and the most important strategic documents. Social entrepreneurship is linked to social work through the way social entrepreneurship can be used to address some of the social problems of the present.