Diving beneath the surface of major curriculum reform using Bourdieu's field theory.

This article focuses on exploring the underlying social dynamics involved in major curriculum reform within educational organizations. It builds on previous work that highlights the role of organizational culture in curriculum change by proposing Pierre Bourdieu's "Theory of Practice," also known as "field theory," as a complementary framework to understand power struggles, resistance, and conflicts during reform processes. The theory conceptualizes the curriculum as a competitive social field where individuals and groups vie for economic, cultural, and social capital, influencing their positions and power within the organization. Concepts such as habitus—the ingrained attitudes and thinking patterns of individuals—and the hysteresis effect, which describes delayed adaptation to environmental changes, are used to explain why reforms often face resistance and slow progress. Overall, the article emphasizes that curriculum reform is a complex interaction between the curriculum itself, the organizational culture, and the people involved.