Parker, Martin, 1962-. (2011) Organizing the circus : the engineering of miracles. Organization Studies, Vol.32 (No.4). pp. 555-569. ISSN 0170-8406

Preview

PDF WRAP_Parker_Organizing_the_Circus_v5.pdf - Accepted Version - Requires a PDF viewer such as GSview, Xpdf or Adobe Acrobat Reader Download (179Kb)

Abstract

This paper defines the circus as an institutionalised questioning of forms of stability and classification, and then enquires as to how such effects are produced. I begin with the cultural representations of the circus, and then move through sections on community, movement and economic organization. This order is intended to illustrate that the production of mystery is a complex affair, and that cultural and economic descriptions of this particular form of organization are necessarily entangled. Focussing on one at the expense of the other leads to either a culturalism which lacks an understanding of production, or a business model which is incapable of understanding miracles.

Item Type:	Journal Article
Subjects:	G Geography. Anthropology. Recreation > GV Recreation Leisure
Divisions:	Faculty of Social Sciences > Warwick Business School
Library of Congress Subject Headings (LCSH):	Circus
Journal or Publication Title:	Organization Studies
Publisher:	Sage Publications Ltd
ISSN:	0170-8406
Date:	April 2011
Volume:	Vol.32
Number:	No.4
Page Range:	pp. 555-569
Identification Number:	10.1177/0170840611403668
Status:	Peer Reviewed
Access rights to Published version:	Restricted or Subscription Access
References:	Adorno, T (1991) The Culture Industry. London: Routledge. Adams, R (2001) Sideshow USA. Freaks and the American Cultural Imagination. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Albrecht, E (1995) The New American Circus. Gainesville, FL: University Press of Florida. Bakhtin, M (1984) Rabelais and his World. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. Beadle, R (2003) „The Discovery of a Peculiar Good‟ Journal of Critical Postmodern Organization Science 2/3: 60-68. Beadle, R and Konyot, D (2006) „The Man in the Red Coat‟ Culture and Organization 12/2: 127-137. Beder, S (2000) Selling the Work Ethic: From Puritan Pulpit to Corporate PR. London: Zed Books. Bogdan, R (1988) Freak Show. Chicago, IL; University of Chicago Press. Bryman, A, Bresnen, M, Beardsworth, A, Ford, J and Keil, E (1987) „The Concept of the Temporary System‟ Research in the Sociology of Organizations 5: 253-283. Carmeli Y (2001) „Circus Play, Circus Talk, and the Nostalgia for a Total Order‟ Journal of Popular Culture 35/3: 157-164. Carmeli, Y (2003) „Lion on Display‟ Poetics Today 24/1: 65-90. Carter, A (2006) Nights at the Circus. London: Vintage. Chan, K and Mauborgne, R (2005) Blue Ocean Strategy. Cambridge, MA; Harvard Business School Press. Cook, J (ed) (2005) The Colossal P T Barnum Reader. Urbana, IL: University of Illinois Press. Cooper, R (1990) „Organisation/Disorganisation‟, In J Hassard And D Pym (eds) The Theory Of Philosophy Of Organisations. London: Routledge. Cottle, G (2006) Confessions of a Showman. London: Vision Paperbacks. Crews, H (2004) „Carney‟. In N Knaebel (ed) Step Right Up. Stories of Carnivals, Sideshows and the Circus. New York: Carrol and Graf Publishers, 47-71. Cummings, L and St Leon, M (2009) „Juggling the Books: The Use of Accounting Information in Circus in Australia‟ Acccounting History 14/1-2: 11-33. Davis, J (2002) The Circus Age. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press. Feiler, B (1995) Under the Big Top. New York: Scribner. Goffman, E (1963) Stigma. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall. Hartzman, M (2005) American Sideshow. New York: Tarcher/Penguin. Hickman, K (2001) Travels with a Circus. London: Flamingo. Hoagland, E (2004) „Circus Music‟. In N Knaebel (ed) Step Right Up. Stories of Carnivals, Sideshows and the Circus. New York: Carrol and Graf Publishers, 1-12. Hough, R (2004) „The Final Confession of Mabel Stark‟. In N Knaebel (ed) Step Right Up. Stories of Carnivals, Sideshows and the Circus. New York: Carrol and Graf Publishers, 275-289. Kavanagh, D (1998) „Multi-firm, Temporary Networks: A Study of Process‟. Unpublished PhD, Department of Marketing, Lancaster University. Kenis, P, Janowicz, M and Cambré, B (eds) (2009) Temporary Organizations. Cheltenham: Edward Elgar. Mitchell, J (2004) „Lady Olga‟. In N Knaebel (ed) Step Right Up. Stories of Carnivals, Sideshows and the Circus. New York: Carrol and Graf Publishers, 91-107. Ogden, Y (1993) Two Hundred Years of the American Circus. New York: Facts on File Inc. Parker, M (2000) Organizational Culture and Identity. London: Sage. Parker, M (2005) „Organizational Gothic‟ Culture and Organization11/3: 153-166. Parker, M (2009) „Space Age Management‟ Management and Organizational History 4/3: 317-332. Stallybrass, P and White, A (1986) The Politics and Poetics of Transgression. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press. Stevens, G (2004) Circus Dictionary. Buntingford, Herts: Aardvark Publishing. Stoddart, H (2000) Rings of Desire. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Truzzi, M (1968) „The Decline of the American Circus‟. In M Truzzi (ed) Sociology and Everyday Life. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 314-321. Van Maanen, J, (1991), 'The Smile Factory', in Frost, P, Moore, L, Louis, M, Lundberg, C, and Martin, J, (eds.), Reframing Organisational Culture. Newbury Park: Sage, 58-76. Wood, G (2002) Living Dolls. London: Faber and Faber.
URI:	http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/id/eprint/37254

Request changes to a record

Actions (login required)

View Item