Chapter 1. Olav Eikeland: Habitus-validity in organisational theory and research – social research and work life transformed. This chapter introduces the concept of “habitus-validity”, based on the Aristotelian concept of habitus or...
moreChapter 1. Olav Eikeland: Habitus-validity in organisational theory and research – social research and work life transformed. This chapter introduces the concept of “habitus-validity”, based on the Aristotelian concept of habitus or héxis, established within social research over the last decades through the influence of Pierre Bourdieu. Action research requires ways of thinking about validity different from and apparently incompatible with mainstream concepts of validity, whether quantitative, qualitative, explanatory, or interpretive. The article presents and discusses the role of habitus-validity in the development of both practical and theoretical knowledge. Habitus-validity tries to conceptualize knowledge validity in ways relevant for action research, especially for an action research strengthened through a critical confrontation with the requirements and shortcomings of mainstream research methods. The concept of habitus validity is presented as the outcome of such a critical confrontation or immanent critique. The discussion springs from the author’s experience through more than 20 years of conducting projects in action research and organizational learning in Norwegian work life and an equivalent number of years of studying conventional methodology, epistemology, and philosophy of science critically.
