The development of a market economy involves the socialization of its economic entities, i.e. the direction of their activities to solve social problems. The purpose of this article is to consider the theoretical and practical aspects of social entrepreneurship as a modern trend of economic development. The authors note that the main features of social entrepreneurship are: innovative activities; its dual focus, which combines non-profit goals with the ability, necessity and ability to make a profit; public nature of social enterprises and complexity in the organization and development, the presence of significant risks. Studies of the functioning of social entrepreneurship in the world have identified the following trends in its development: due to the different participation of the state in its support; lack of a single “acceptable” or effective form of social entrepreneurship and a certain generally defined area of activity; the success of social entrepreneurship in the world and its significant contribution to the economy.In Ukraine, social entrepreneurship is a new form of business. The main trends in the functioning of social entrepreneurship in Ukraine are: a fairly wide geography of distribution of their activities, although the vast majority of them operate in large cities; the most common organizational form is individual small business; the main activities are: employment of vulnerable groups and generating income for social activities, etc. However, despite the rather rapid development of social entrepreneurship in Ukraine, the problems of its functioning are: lack of financial and institutional state support; lack of motivation to create social enterprises and low level of public awareness of their significant positive potential; its significant dependence on foreign support and investment. According to the authors, these problems do not allow social entrepreneurship in Ukraine to realize its potential and become a trend of economic development. JEL classіfіcatіon: D64, L26, L31