Emirbayer and Johnson critique the failure to engage fully Bourdieu’s relational analysis in empirical work, but are weak
in giving direction for rectifying the problem. Following their recommendation for studying organizations-in-fields and organizations-as-fields,
I argue for the benefits of analogical comparison using case studies of organizations as the units of analysis. Doing so maximizes
the number of Bourdieusian concepts that can be deployed in an explanation. Further, it maximizes discovery of the oft-neglected
links among history, competition, resources, sites of contestation and struggle, relations of dominance and domination, and
reproduction of inequality. Perhaps most important, case studies can identify the connection between macro-, meso-, and micro-level
factors in the formation and shaping of habitus. To support my claims empirically, I draw from case study research (Vaughan
The challenger launch decision: Risky technology, culture, and deviance at NASA, 1996;
Signals and interpretive work: The role of culture in a theory of practical action. pp. 28–56, 2002) that verifies Bourdieu’s as the “Theory of Practical Action” that supplies the micro-level component to
the new institutionalism (DiMaggio and Powell,
Introduction. pp. 1–41, 1991).