Page - (000065) - in Knowledge and Networks

56 Burnes and Cooke ( 2012b ) asserted that the core components of OD have strong connections with the work of Kurt Lewin, summarizing that “ Lewin’s fi eld theory was a signifi cant break with the contemporary view of human behavior. It offered a holistic view of human behavior that focused on the entirety of a person or groups perceptual or psychological environment” (p. 420). Bourdieu’s ( 1983 ) sociocultural approach points out the different assumptions of active actors in an economic fi eld. He differentiates between economic, cultural, and social capital. Economic capital comprises material resources such as income and money; social capital comprises relations and social networks; and cultural capital comprises resources such as cultivation, education, and lifestyle. Bourdieu stresses the specialness of cultural capital, whose transmission occurs within the family. Incorporating this cultural capital takes a lot of time (e.g., education). An economic fi eld is distinguished by especially high dynamics, with the situation and individuals characterized by rapid change, competition, and quick action. Additional features are limited rationality and acting under great uncertainty. Typical in the Lewinian sense is the analysis of the interaction between the actors and the situation at hand. In Bourdieu’s ( 1983 ) extension of fi eld theory, the actors’ social, cultural, and economic resources must also be considered. Figure 3.1 is simply an abstract metaphor for the forces interacting in an economic context (Spieß, 2006 ). Fig. 3.1 Expanded metaphor of the fi eld theory (Design by author) E. Spieß