Within the debate about the potential of management schools to produce a more humane form of capitalism, there have been discussions about the role teaching about history might play in reforming the business school curriculum. Researchers have argued that teaching more history in the business school could help to form more ethical and socially responsible management practitioners. However, we do not yet have a good understanding of the forces that would support or impede the inclusion of more history in management education. We thus need to learn more about how those who currently teach history to management learners legitimate their teaching of history. This paper remedies this gap by examining a UK-based initiative which has successfully promoted the teaching of history to both management students and experienced practitioners. Drawing on different theories of organizational legitimacy and Bourdieu’s concept of capital, we study the different ways in which the course has achieved legitimacy. Specifically, we identify three strategies which were employed by the course’s creators: strategic alliance-building, disciplinary camouflaging, and intellectual teambuilding. We suggest that this case contains valuable precedents for those looking to expand the teaching of history as part of a broader project to make management education more responsible.
