Formal Dining at Cambridge Colleges: Linking Ritual Performance and Institutional Maintenance

2010/12/01 by M. Tina Dacin, Kamal Munir, Paul Tracey · 496 citations
Business, Management and Accounting · Engineering · Social Sciences · #Archaeology #Class (philosophy) #Context (archaeology) #Economics #Engineering #Epistemology #History #Institutional theory #Management #Management and Organizational Studies #Nonprofit Sector and Volunteering #Political science #Public relations #Qualitative research #Social and Cultural Dynamics #Social science #Sociology #Work (physics)

paper · doi:10.5465/amj.2010.57318388

published in Academy of Management Journal 53(6), 1393-1418 (Academy of Management)

openalex publication_date 2010/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/29

Abstract

We examine the role of rituals in institutional maintenance. Through an in-depth, qualitative study of formal dining at the University of Cambridge, we explore how the performance of these rituals contributes to the maintenance of the British class system. We find that rituals are important for institutional maintenance because they have a powerful bearing on participants beyond the confines of the rituals themselves. Our analysis also suggests that institutions are refracted through context and individual experience at a micro level, and indicates a more fragmented and less strategic conception of institutional maintenance than is portrayed in recent work.

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