The Spiritual Dimension of Biodynamics: An Alternative Source of Capital in the Rural Context
Exploring Rural Enterprise: New Perspectives On Research, Policy & Practice
ISBN: 978-1-78441-112-1, eISBN: 978-1-78441-109-1
Publication date: 4 August 2014
Abstract
Purpose
Biodynamics is a specific form of organic production with spiritual underpinnings. This chapter explores it as a form of rural entrepreneurship using the capitals framework of Bourdieu as a conceptual tool.
Methodology
The chapter draws upon 11 qualitative case studies of New Zealand firms engaged in biodynamic growing methods. Data collected via in-depth narratively oriented interviews inform the chapter, along with other relevant secondary material.
Findings
The chapter suggests that the spiritual underpinning of the biodynamic approach imbues the experience with a form of spiritual capital that is not captured within traditional interpretations of capital. We conceive of this as a form of alternative capital and offer a conceptualisation as an attempt to capture that difference.
Research limitations
This is a niche, small scale, exploratory study limited to one geographic context (New Zealand) at one particular point in time.
Originality/value
This chapter offers a modest expansion to previous conceptualisations of capital in the rural context.
Keywords
Citation
Lewis, K. and Cassells, S. (2014), "The Spiritual Dimension of Biodynamics: An Alternative Source of Capital in the Rural Context", Exploring Rural Enterprise: New Perspectives On Research, Policy & Practice (Contemporary Issues in Entrepreneurship Research, Vol. 4), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 175-191. https://doi.org/10.1108/S2040-724620140000004008
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited