Document Type
Article
Publication Date
5-1-1999
Abstract
The paper illustrates the application of Pierre Bourdieu's oeuvre to a qualitative research project regarding organizational change. Considerable attention is given to the interaction of field delineation, capital stakes struggle, interests, and individual/class habitus at both a church and a medical college. It is posited that a focus on field analysis considers the sources of capital struggle in a given realm. This, in turn, grants a researcher a new way to analyze who participates in these struggles, what prized capital stimulates interest, and how action and prctices are subsequently engendered. This body of work suggests that agents and/or classes have the ability to disassemble and reassemble their social world by collectively strategizing to create or obtain legitimacy. Class habitus tended to attract similarities and repel differences, based on individual/class/field "fit". A "fit" was apt to generate a collective dynamism, while a disconnect tended to cast off outliers, voluntarily or involuntarily. Additionally, embedded dichotomies were used to enhance power relations, distinctiveness, domination, and differences. Prized capital was defined through a process of struggle and negotiation, resulting in its creation, conveyance, appropriation, and consumption. Practice and action arose from the capital form and volume available to agents, habitus, and the opportunities or constraints afforded by the field. I offer a reproduction and production model, which supports change processes, despite the anchoring potential of habitus. The model posits that there is continuity and reporoduction in social practices; but the potential exists for transformation as a result of a recapitalization process. Once capital stakes change, the identity of a field transforms. This ultimately affects what can be claimed as distinctive and legitimate by substantiating reigning dichotomies and creating a new foundation of continuity for each organization. The new plateau of stability paralleled each organization's old stability; accordingly returning to their roots of core identity and deep structure. Elements of the model are illustrated and implications discussed. Bourdieu's concept of field homologies sugges that a model such as this can potentially contribute to the study of organziations, businesses and management, since their existence is predicated upon ongoing schemes concerning relations and capital.
Keywords
Capitalism -- Philosophy
Rights
© The Author(s). Kelvin Smith Library provides access for non-commercial, personal, or research use only. All other use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly reproductions, redistribution, publication or transmission, whether by electronic means or otherwise, without prior written permission is strictly prohibited.
Department/Center
Design & Innovation
Recommended Citation
Cummings, Louann Hofheins, "Habitus Wars and Field(s) of Dreams: Using Bourdieu To Reframe the Sense of a Crisis" (1999). Student Scholarship. 229.
https://commons.case.edu/studentworks/229
