Mannheim uses this example of the urbanization of a peasant
boy as a means of illustrating how ways of thinking
about the world are mediated by social milieu, and how the
acquisition of new ways of thinking depends upon a departure
from the old world view. The example is a convenient
starting point for an analysis of organization theory, which
seeks to examine both how organization theorists attempt
to understand their subject of study and how they may
begin to attain a measure of detachment from orthodox
ways of viewing it. Organization theorists, like scientists
from other disciplines, often approach their subject from a
frame of reference based upon assumptions that are takenfor-granted.
To the extent that these assumptions are continually
affirmed and reinforced by fellow scientists, and
others with whom the organization theorist interacts, they
may remain not only unquestioned, but also beyond conscious
awareness. In this way the orthodox world view may
come to assume a status as real, routine, and taken-forgranted
as the world view of Mannheim's peasant boy who
stayed at home. The partial and self-sustaining nature of the
orthodoxy only becomes apparent to the extent that the
theorist exposes basic assumptions to the challenge of alternative
ways of seeing and begins to appreciate these alternatives
in their own terms