ABSTRACT
Contradictions shape the evolution of economic institutions, as we have seen by discussing the heuristics of the patrons of early evolutionary economics, Veblen, Hayek and Schumpeter. These contradictions constitute the social practices of society and mark the distinction in the cultural patterns of life. Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) dedicated his scientific career to establish a dynamic socio-economic framework capable of explaining the mechanisms generating and internalizing the distinction in the habitus of economic agents. These generative mechanisms indicate the social universe of big and small entrepreneurs, of conspicuous consumers, of workers, teachers, engineers and so on; they also deliver answers about change in these universes from a cultural perspective. Of course the places we have in mind are not necessarily of a geographical nature.
