Responding to the various calls for more interdisciplinarity in career research over the last few decades, we identify five touchstones for theoretical concepts to advance the interdisciplinary dialogue on careers. Drawing on Bourdieu’s theory of practice, we outline its contributions to such a dialogue in the light of these touchstones. In spite of some potential pitfalls, the theory of practice not only invites interdisciplinary dialogue, but also provides a unifying framework for generating new questions in career research and systematically integrating concepts from other disciplines. Overall, this is but one example of how grand social theories can stimulate interdisciplinarity in career research.
Adler PS and Kwon S.-W (2002) Social capital: Prospects for a new concept. Academy of Management Review27(1): 17-40.
2.
Aghamanoukjan A., Eikhof DR, Leitner J. and Meyer M. ( 2007) Leitern ohne Sprossen? Karrieren im Nonprofit-Sektor . In: Helmig B, Purtschert R, Schauer R and Witt D (eds) Nonprofit-Organisationen und Märkte. 7. Internationales Colloquium der NPO-Forscher im März 2006 in Freiburg (Schweiz). Wiesbaden: DUV-Gabler, 151-166.
3.
Arnold J. and Cohen L. ( 2008) The psychology of careers in industrial and organizational settings: A critical but appreciative analysis. In: Hodgkinson GP and Ford JK (eds) International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology . London: Wiley, 1-44.
4.
Arthur MB ( 2008) Examining contemporary careers: A call for interdisciplinary inquiry. Human Relations61(2): 163-186.
5.
Arthur MB, Hall DT and Lawrence BS ( 1989) Generating new directions in career theory: The case for a transdisciplinary approach. In: Arthur MB, Hall DT and Lawrence BS (eds) Handbook of Career Theory . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 7-25.
6.
Bailey KD ( 2005) Beyond system internals: Expanding the scope of Living Systems Theory. Systems Research and Behavioral Science22(6): 497-508.
7.
Barley SR ( 1989) Careers, identities and institutions: The legacy of the Chicago School of Sociology. In: Arthur MB, Hall DT and Lawrence B (eds) Handbook of Career Theory . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 41-58.
8.
Barley SR and Kunda G. ( 2004) Gurus, Hired Guns and Warm Bodies: Itinerant Experts in Knowledge Economy. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
9.
Becker KH and Haunschild A. ( 2003) The impact of boundaryless career on organizational decision making: An analysis from the perspective of Luhmann’s theory of social systems. International Journal of Human Resource Management14(5): 713-727.
10.
Berger JB ( 2000) Optimizing capital, social reproduction, and undergraduate persistence. In: Braxton JM (ed.) Reworking the Student Departure Puzzle. Nashville, TN: Vanderbilt University Press, 95-124.
11.
Bergmann W. ( 1992) The problem of time in sociology: An overview of the literature on the state of theory and research on the ‘sociology of time’, 1900-82. Time & Society1(1): 81-134.
12.
Bluedorn AC ( 2002) The Human Organization of Time: Temporal Realities and Experience. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
13.
Bourdieu P. ( 1977) Outline of a Theory of Practice. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
14.
Bourdieu P. ( 1984) Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste . Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
15.
Bourdieu P. ( 1986) The forms of capital. In: Richardson JG (ed.) Handbook of Theory and Research for the Sociology of Education. New York: Greenwood, 241-258.
16.
Bourdieu P. ( 1990a) In Other Words: Essays towards a Reflexive Sociology . Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
17.
Bourdieu P. ( 1990b) The Logic of Practice. Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press.
18.
Bourdieu P. ( 2005) The Social Structures of the Economy. Cambridge: Polity Press.
19.
Bourdieu P. and Sayad A. ( 1964) Le déracinement. La crise de l’agriculture traditionnelle en Algérie. Paris: Éditions de Minuit.
20.
Bourdieu P. and Wacquant LJD ( 1992) An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press .
21.
Burt RS (ed.) (2001) Social Capital: Theory and Research. New York: Aldine de Gruyter.
22.
Carter P. ( 2005) Keepin’ It Real: School Success Beyond Black and White. New York: Oxford University Press.
23.
Chudzikowski K., Demel B., Mayrhofer W., Briscoe JP, Unite J., Bogicevic Milikic B., Hall DT, Las Heras M. and Zikic J. ( 2009) Career transitions and their causes: A country-comparative perspective. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology82(4): 825-849.
24.
Coase R. ( 1937) The nature of the firm. Economica16(4): 386-405.
25.
Coleman JS ( 1990) Foundations of Social Theory. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press.
26.
Collin A and Patton W (eds) (2009) Vocational Psychological and Organisational Perspectives on Career: Towards a Multidisciplinary Dialogue. Rotterdam : Sense Publishers.
27.
Crossley N. ( 2001) The phenomenological habitus and its construction . Theory and Society30(1): 81-120.
28.
Crossley N. ( 2003) From reproduction to transformation: Social movements fields and the radical habitus. Theory, Culture and Society20(6): 43-68.
29.
De Clercq D. and Voronov M.(2009) The role of domination in newcomers’ legitimation as entrepreneurs . Organization16(6): 799-827.
30.
Dick P. ( 2008) Resistance, gender, and Bourdieu’s notion of field . Management Communication Quarterly21(3): 327-343.
31.
Dobbin F. ( 2008) The poverty of organizational theory: Comment on: ‘Bourdieu and organizational analysis’. Theory and Society37(1): 53-63.
32.
Duberley J., Cohen L. and Mallon M. ( 2006) Constructing scientific careers: Change, continuity and context. Organization Studies27(8): 1131-1151.
33.
Eikhof DR and Haunschild A. ( 2007) For art’s sake! Artistic and economic logics in creative production. Journal of Organizational Behavior28(5): 523-538.
34.
Emirbayer M. and Johnson V. ( 2008) Bourdieu and organizational analysis. Theory and Society37(1): 1-44.
35.
Feyerabend PK ( 1978) Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge . London: Verso.
36.
Fogarty TJ ( 1998) The stratification of academic accounting in the USA: A theoretical and empirical evaluation of institutional reproduction . Accounting Education7(1): 3-20.
37.
Gell A. ( 1992) The Anthropology of Time: Cultural Constructions of Temporal Maps and Images. Oxford: Berg.
38.
Giddens A. ( 1984) The Constitution of Society. Outline of the Theory of Structuration. Cambridge: Polity Press.
39.
Glaser BG and Strauss AL ( 1971) Status Passage. Chicago, IL : Aldine.
40.
Golsorkhi D., Leca B., Lounsbury M. and Ramirez C.(2009) Analysing, accounting for and unmasking domination: On our role as scholars of practice, practitioners of social science and public intellectuals . Organization16(6): 779-797.
41.
Grandjean BD ( 1981) History and career in a bureaucratic labor market . The American Journal of Sociology86(5): 1057-1092.
42.
Gunz HP and Peiperl MA (eds) (2007) Handbook of Career Studies . Los Angeles, CA: SAGE.
43.
Gunz HP, Peiperl MA and Tzabbar D. ( 2007) Boundaries in the study of career. In: Gunz HP and Peiperl MA (eds) Handbook of Career Studies. Thousand Oaks: SAGE, 471-494.
44.
Hall ET ( 1989) The Dance of Life: The Other Dimension of Time . New York: Doubleday.
45.
Hartmann M. ( 2001) Class-specific habitus and the social reproduction of the business elite in Germany and France. The Sociological Review48(2): 241-261.
46.
Haunschild A. and Eikhof D. ( 2009) From HRM to employment rules and lifestyles: Theory development through qualitative case study research into the creative industries . Zeitschrift für Personalforschung23(2): 107-124.
47.
Hermann A. ( 2004) Karrieremuster im Management: Pierre Bourdieus Sozialtheorie als Ausgangspunkt für eine genderspezifische Betrachtung . Wiesbaden: Deutscher Universitäts-Verlag .
48.
Hodkinson P. ( 1998) Career decision making and the transition from school to work. In: Grenfell M and James D (eds) Bourdieu and Education: Acts of Practical Theory. London: Falmer Press, 89-103.
49.
Hodkinson P. and Sparkes AC ( 1997) Careership: A sociological theory of career decision making . British Journal of Sociology of Education18(1): 29-44.
50.
Iellatchitch A., Mayrhofer W. and Meyer M. ( 2003) Career fields: A small step towards a grand career theory ? International Journal of Human Resource Management14(5): 728-750.
51.
Jones C. ( 2001) Co-evolution and entrepreneurial careers, institutional rules and competitive dynamics in American film, 1895-1920. Organization Studies22(5): 911-944.
52.
Karpik L. ( 1978) Organizations, institutions and history. In: Karpik L (ed.) Organization and Environment: Theory, Issues and Reality. London: SAGE, 15-68.
53.
Kerr R. and Robinson S.(2009) The hysteresis effect as creative adaptation of the habitus: Dissent and transition to the ‘corporate’ in post-Soviet Ukraine . Organization16(6): 829-853.
54.
Khapova SN, Arthur MB and Wilderom CPM ( 2007) The subjective career in the knowledge economy . In: Gunz HP and Peiperl MA (eds) Handbook of Career Studies . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 114-130.
55.
Krais B. ( 1988) Der Begiff des Habitus bei Bourdieu und seine Bedeutung für die Bildungstheorie. In: Dewe B, Frank G and Huge W (eds) Theorien der Erwachsenenbildung . München: Hueber.
56.
LeTrent-Jones TG ( 2009) Networks of Capital and Influence: A Critical Social Inquiry into the Field of Management Consulting. Saarbrücken : VDM Verlag.
57.
Levine R. ( 1997) A Geography of Time: The Temporal Misadventures of a Social Psychologist, or How Every Culture Keeps Time Just a Little Bit Differently . New York: Basic Books .
58.
Levinson DJ, Darrow CN, Klein EB, Levinson MH and McKee B. ( 1978) The Season of a Man’s Life. New York: Ballantine Books.
59.
Lindh G. and Dahlin E. ( 2000) A Swedish perspective on the importance of Bourdieu’s theories for career counseling. Journal of Employment Counseling37(4): 194-203.
60.
Longden B. ( 2004) Interpreting student early departure from higher education through the lens of cultural capital. Tertiary Education and Management10(2): 121-138.
61.
Lounsbury M. and Ventresca M. ( 2003) The new structuralism in organizational theory . Organization10(3): 457-480.
62.
Luhmann N. ( 1995) Social Systems. Stanford, CA : Stanford University Press.
63.
McGrath JE (ed.) (1988) The Social Psychology of Time: New Perspectives. Newbury Park, CA: SAGE.
64.
McIlveen P. ( 2009) Career development, management, and planning from the vocational psychology perspective. In: Collin A and Patton W (eds) Vocational Psychological and Organisational Perspectives on Career: Towards a Multidisciplinary Dialogue. Rotterdam: Sense Publishers, 63-89.
65.
Mayrhofer W., Meyer M. and Steyrer J. ( 2007a) Contextual issues in the study of careers. In: Gunz HP and Peiperl MA (eds) Handbook of Career Studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 215-240.
66.
Mayrhofer W., Meyer M., Steyrer J. and Langer K. ( 2007b) Can expatriation research learn from other disciplines? The case of international career habitus. International Studies of Management & Organization37(3): 89-107.
67.
Mills CW ( 1959) The Sociological Imagination. New York : Oxford University Press.
68.
Mitchell TR and James LR ( 2001) Building better theory: Time and the specification of when things happen. Academy of Management Review26(4): 530-547.
69.
Moore C., Gunz HP and Hall DT ( 2007) Tracing the historical roots of career theory. In: Gunz HP and Peiperl MA (eds) Handbook of Career Studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 13-39.
70.
Ofori-Dankwa J. and Julian SD ( 2001) Complexifying organizational theory: Illustrations using time research. The Academy of Management Review26(3): 415-430.
71.
Ornstein S. and Isabella LA ( 1993) Making sense of careers: A review 1989-1992. Journal of Management19(2): 243-267.
72.
Özbilgin M. and Tatli A. ( 2005) Book review essay: Understanding Bourdieu’s contribution to organization and management studies. Academy of Management Review30(4): 855-869.
73.
Özbilgin M., Kusku F. and Erdoğmuş N. ( 2005) Explaining influences on career ‘choice’: The case of MBA students in comparative perspective. International Journal of Human Resource Management16(11): 2000-2028.
74.
Peiperl MA and Gunz H. ( 2007) Taxonomy of career studies. In: Gunz HP and Peiperl MA (eds) Handbook of Career Studies. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 39-54.
75.
Postone M., LiPuma E. and Calhoun C. ( 1993) Introduction: Bourdieu and social theory. In: Calhoun C, LiPuma E and Postone M (eds) Bourdieu: Critical Perspectives . Cambridge, MA: Polity, 1-13.
76.
Robinson SK and Kerr R. ( 2008) The symbolic violence of leadership: A critical hermeneutic study of leadership and succession in a British organization in the post-Soviet context. Human Relations62(6): 875-903.
77.
Sayce S. ( 2006) Gender change? Locked into industrial relations and Bourdieu . Employee Relations28(5): 468-482.
78.
Schein EH ( 1978) Career Dynamics: Matching Individual and Organizational Needs. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley .
79.
Schein EH ( 2007) Afterword: Career research - Some issues and dilemmas . In: Gunz HP and Peiperl MA (eds) Handbook of Career Studies . Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE, 573-576.
80.
Sun Y. ( 1999) The contextual effects of community social capital on academic performance. Social Science Research28(4): 403-426.
81.
Suto M.(2009) Compromised careers: The occupational transition of immigration and resettlement. Work32(4): 417-429.
82.
Swartz D. ( 1997) Culture and Power: The Sociology of Pierre Bourdieu . Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
83.
Van Gennep A. ( 1960) Rites of Passage. Chicago, IL : University of Chicago Press.
84.
Van Maanen J. and Schein EH ( 1977) Career development. In: Hackman JR and Suttle J (eds) Improving Life at Work. Santa Monica, CA: Goodyear, 30-96.
85.
Wainwright SP and Turner BS ( 2006) ‘Just crumbling to bits?’ An exploration of the body, ageing, injury and career in classical ballet dancers. Sociology40(2): 237-255.
86.
Warhurst C., Eikhof DR and Haunschild A. ( 2008) Out of balance or just out of bounds? analysing the relationship between work and life. In: Warhurst C, Eikhof DR and Haunschild A (eds) Work Less, Live More? Critical Analysis of the Work-Life Boundary. London: Palgrave Macmillan , 1-21.
87.
Weick KE ( 1996) Enactment and the boundaryless career: Organizing as we work. In: Arthur MB and Rousseau DM (eds) The Boundaryless Career . New York: Oxford University Press , 40-57.
88.
Williamson OE ( 1975) Markets and Hierarchies. New York: Free Press.
