Power struggles involving culture, intellectual capital, and social capital: A knowledge -intensive organization in the midst of change

Observers of organizational life in the late 1990s and early 2000s saw the boom and bust of many Internet-based startup organizations. This turbulent environment provided a cultural landscape ripe for various types of power struggles among participants in these organizations. Attending to these issues, this thesis is a case study of an Internet startup company in the midst of unplanned change. The thesis takes a cultural approach to study the way members navigated their changing work experiences. To do so, the author uses various qualitative methods and a few key concepts provided by Pierre Bourdieu, such as cultural fields, habitus, dispositions, intellectual capital, and social capital to interpret members' symbolic struggles.