The case studies demonstrated that Bourdieu's conceptualization of cultural capital provides a perspective that can clarify different aspects of agricultural knowledge. Since the focus of this article has been the cultural capital of specific ethnic minorities in the agricultural sector of high mountain areas, characterized by numerous transition processes, the field of production, diffusion and further development of agricultural knowledge is only one of several (see . Van Assche et al., 2013). Stimulating factors such as state legislation, economic incentives or social provisions have so far not been discussed or only marginally. Although, in particular, social arrangements, i.e. social capital, strongly influence the formation and expression of cultural capital. Not only does the economic performance of a family depend directly or indirectly on social capital (sufficient personnel, etc.), particularly in decision-making processes regarding In agricultural production, social capital plays an important role. According to Putnam, “social capital (…) refers to characteristics of social organization, such as trust, norms, networks that can improve the efficiency of society by facilitating cooperative action”. (Putnam, 1994: 167) Trust or distrust, solidarity and hierarchies are of great importance regarding agricultural production (knowledge), the diffusion of knowledge but also decisions about planning processes for the future. Market-type relationships between fellow villagers are limited due to various factors. People try to avoid “making money” at each other's expense – advice and mutual help are offered free of charge, or in exchange for social capital, for example through mutual help in haymaking or crop production. cow chips (cfa.. ... middle of paper ... However, in most cases, farmers had to invent from scratch, as there was no institutionalized capital available to serve as a model under market conditions. The significant similarities between knowledge stores and structures of perception of individual stakeholders highlight the importance of the socio-cultural context in terms of learning and perception. Some specificities can also be found in other post-Soviet transition countries, for example, was highly specialized and centralized the state during the Soviet period – promoted and controlled by local institutions (see Ul-Hassan et al., 2011), after which the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 led to a loss of institutionalized knowledge, resulting in knowledge gaps in the world academic. field and to a mismatch of local knowledge with today's institutional structures (cfWall, 2008).