Myth and Charisma as Symbolic Capital: The Case of Architecture

Abstract

This chapter presents a study of Sweden’s most prestigious firm of architects, Wingårdh Architect Firm, and suggests that resources such as myth and charisma are not additional or external to regular organizational practices but woven into the very fabric of everyday practices. Myth and charisma are socially enacted beliefs, circulated in narratives and symbols, and helping to structure a particular field. In the field of architecture, the importance of such resources must not be neglected or ignored. In this view, myth and charisma constitute what Durkheim (1895/1938) called faites sociale, social facts. In the general wake of interest in mythology and other forms of ‘non-rational’ (i.e. emotional or symbolic) resources in organization, for example charisma, myth is often portrayed as something that is, of necessity, deceiving and poorly related to actual conditions (Gabriel, 2004a; Gemmill and Oakley, 1992; Ogbor, 2000). Here, myth is used in its anthropological sense, as something capable of making what is ambiguous or fuzzy intelligible and widely shared between groups of humans (Douglas, 1963/1999). Contrary to such a view, myth may also be used as an organizational resource, both internally and externally to the organization, to promote certain ideas or to reinforce the image of the organization or its employed professions. For instance, management consultancy firms are eager to underscore its scientific principles and its actual effects on organizational performance; theatre companies emphasize artistic creativity and autonomy vis-à-vis financiers; and university professors are at pains to safeguard its detachment from political power and specific interests.