Expanding the Realm of the Possible: Enclaves and the Transformation of Fields

The goal of this paper is to contribute to an emerging body of scholarship aimed at reviving “field theory” as a conceptual framework for understanding organizational and social change processes. It does so by presenting the idea of “enclaves” – that is, fields consciously defined by their constituents as significantly different from the larger fields in which they are embedded. This paper focuses on enclaves that explicitly or implicitly act as challengers to the larger, incumbent field. It illustrates the strategies through which enclaves transform larger fields by analyzing the case of an entrepreneurial organization in Israel that played an important role in transforming the field of services for children with developmental disabilities and their families. The paper begins by setting forth a conceptual framework for analyzing fields and then uses this framework to present the concept of enclaves as a way of developing the theory and deepening our understanding of how challengers can make significant c...