The concept of field originates in the physical sciences where one finds varied expressions in electromagnetism, Newtonian gravitation, and Einstein’s theory of general relativity ( Hesse 1970). Field analysis brings these separate units into a broader perspective that stresses their relational properties rather than their intrinsic features and therefore the multiplicity of forces shaping the behavior of each. The concept of field stands as an alternative analytical tool to institutions, organizations, markets, individuals, and groups though all of these can be key components of fields. A field perspective stands in sharp contrast to broad consensual views of social life even though actors within a field share common assumptions about the worth of the struggle and the rules by which it is to be carried out. Like a magnetic field, the effects of social fields on behavior can be far reaching and not always apparent to actors. In fields actors strategize and struggle over the unequal distribution of valued capitals and over the definitions of just what are the most valued capitals.

Fields may be thought of as structured spaces that organize around specific types of capitals or combinations of capital. For Bourdieu, fields denote arenas of production, circulation, and appropriation and exchange of goods, services, knowledge, or status, and the competitive positions held by actors in their struggle to accumulate, exchange, and monopolize different kinds of power resources (capitals). While the latter exercises considerable influence in organization studies and draws upon Bourdieu, it is Bourdieu’s conceptualization that currently elicits inspiration across the broadest range of substantive areas of sociological investigation. There are three major and distinct if overlapping variants of field theory in the social sciences: the social-psychological perspective associated with the psychologist Kurt Lewin, the stratification and domination emphasis in Pierre Bourdieu’s sociology, and the interorganization relations institutionalism associated with Paul DiMaggio and Walter Powell. The concept of field is being used more and more today in North American sociology as well as in Europe.

Bourdieu distinction