Tracking habitus across a transnational professional field

Crawford Spence, Chris Carter, Ataur Belal, Javier Husillos, Claire Dambrin and Pablo Archel
Additional contact information
Crawford Spence: Warwick Business School, UK
Chris Carter: The University of Edinburgh, UK
Ataur Belal: Aston University, UK
Javier Husillos: University of Strathclyde, UK
Claire Dambrin: ESCP Europe, France
Pablo Archel: Universidad Pública de Navarra, Spain

Work, Employment & Society, 2016, vol. 30, issue 1, 3-20

Abstract: The sociology of the professions has shied away from cross-national comparative work. Yet research in different professional jurisdictions emphasizes the transnational nature of professional fields. Further work is therefore needed that explores the extent to which transnational professional fields are characterized by unity or heterogeneity. To that end, this article presents the results of a qualitative interrogation of the habitus of partners in ‘Big 4’ professional service firms across, primarily, five countries (Bangladesh, Canada, France, Spain and the UK). Marked differences are observed between the partner habitus in Bangladesh and the other countries studied in terms of entrepreneurial and public service dispositions. In turn, these findings highlight the methodological relevance of habitus for both the sociology of the professions and comparative capitalism literatures: for the former, habitus aids in mapping the dynamics of transnational professional fields; for the latter, habitus can elucidate the informal norms and conventions of national business systems.

Keywords: comparative capitalism; habitus; professional service firms; transnational professional fields; national business systems (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:sae:woemps:v:30:y:2016:i:1:p:3-20

DOI: 10.1177/0950017015574824

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