On the Plasticity of Institutions: Containing and Restoring Practice Breakdowns at the Cambridge University Boat Club
通过对剑桥大学2007年赛艇赛季199天的民族志观察，研究高度制度化实践如何被维护，分析制度参与者如何集体修复实践故障，发现不同维护工作的显著性随故障性质变化，赋予制度可塑性以适应不断变化的实践表现。
Using a 199-day ethnography of Cambridge's 2007 season preparations for the annual University Boat Race, we explore the microprocesses through which highly institutionalized practices are maintained by examining how institutional inhabitants collectively restore breakdowns in institutionalized practice. Our analysis reveals how institutions can be inoculated against such breakdowns through maintenance work. We find that the salience and importance of different forms of maintenance work vary with the nature and process history of practice breakdowns. This lends institutions the plasticity through which ever-changing practice performances can be accommodated without necessarily effecting permanent structural change.