Pierre Bourdieu, Organisation, and Management

The sociology of Pierre Bourdieu has been widely discussed by scholars from a range of disciplines, perhaps most recently by those engaged in the study of work and organisations, to uncover and challenge existing social arrangements and pave the way for alternatives. In this new edited collection from Ahu Tatli, Mustafa Özbilgin and Mine Karatas-Özkan, readers are provided with a breadth of contributions indicating the relevance of Bourdieu’s insights to the study of management and organisations. The editors’ ambition for the text is set out clearly in the first pages of their introduction, addressing “a need for more research, which uncovers the hidden assumptions and reasoning in the domain of management and organisational studies scholarship that may help legitimise and naturalise asymmetries of power, and relations of oppression and domination”. (2015, p. 1). This ambition is realised through the collection’s ten chapters which are organised in two parts: “New frontiers in research and theory” and “Empirical insights”. The two-part structure of the text provides an interesting way of organising the range of material and helps readers navigate the chapters depending on their particular interests.

The first part of the book concerns itself with the ways that Bourdieu’s work can advance theoretical and methodological debates. The section contains four chapters each placing an emphasis on using Bourdieu’s ideas to reinvigorate or reinterpret debates through the injection of fresh theory. Schneidhofer, Latzke and Mayrhofer, for instance, in Chapter 1 discuss how insights derived from the interplay of the concepts of capital, habitus and field can be used to interpret “Careers as sites of power”. Chapter 2 by Samaluk sees the interplay of structure and agency, commonly associated with Bourdieu’s work, to explore notions of social class. The third chapter, by Nikolopoulos and Nicolopoulou, turns attention on problematising embodied culture in organisations, through the lens of habitus and different forms of capital. Concluding part one of the book, Chapter 4 by Brummans uses Bourdieu’s take on reflexivity to prompt reflection among researchers on the ways they are complicit in the shaping of academic fields and the implications this can have for the world they study.

The second part of the book is focussed primarily on demonstrating the application of Bourdieu’s ideas to empirical inquiries. The section is broad in geographical and empirical scope, embracing a wide range of research contexts and problems. The six chapters comprising part two of the book incorporate studies critically oriented towards addressing questions of drug development for rare diseases (Hamadache), the diversity of pension boards (Sayce), struggles for gender equality in universities (Hofbauer, Striedinger, Kreissl and Sauer), the influence of managerialism in higher-education (Taksa and Kalfa), moving beyond a culture/economic dichotomy in the cultural and creative industries (Townley) and the institutionalised marginalisation of women managers in sports organisations (Karaçam and Koca).

Of particular interest in the book is the way that Bourdieu’s ideas are applied and developed. Great care is taken by the authors to develop their studies and analyses from interacting with Bourdieu’s work going beyond simply applying selected ideas as an overlay or lens through which a mechanistic analysis can be performed. The careful setting out and application of Bourdieu’s work in these conceptual and empirical chapters offers useful examples of how we might engage meaningfully, not only with Bourdieu’s insights but also, with the conceptual frameworks of others. Although closely related through the common focus on Bourdieu’s ideas and on organisations, the chapters can be read as stand-alone pieces and according to the reader’s interests.

In terms of the audiences for this book, it is first and foremost aimed at scholars of management and organisations seeking fresh perspectives on these topics. The engagement with a range of Bourdieu’s ideas and their thoughtful application to a variety of sociological questions in organisations and management will be of general interest to scholars in this area. Those who are familiar already with Bourdieu’s work can appreciate the breadth of concepts featured in the text while those who are new to Bourdieu’s insights can benefit from the careful articulation of key concepts. Despite its scholarly focus, the text also offers potential interest to human resource management practitioners who are committed to achieving a deeper, more reflexive understanding of the environments in which they work. The analyses provided through the chapters in this book will help them to question the conventions and taken-for-granted assumptions surrounding much of what we find in different kinds of contemporary work organisations.

By way of summary, the editors set out to address calls for more research that identifies and explores the value- and power-laden nature of work organisations and management while appearing value-neutral. Through this edited collection of chapters engaging with the ideas and insights of Pierre Bourdieu, the editors and authors have made a valuable contribution to this project by highlighting a range of new tools and frameworks to stimulate research thinking and practice.