A THEORY OF INTERACTION ritual is the key to microsociology, and microsociology is the key to much that is larger. The smallscale, the hereand-now of face-to-face interaction, is the scene of action and the site of social actors. If we are going to find the agency of social life, it will be here. Here reside the energy of movement and change, the glue of solidarity, and the conservatism of stas...

On the basis of ethnographic and historical material this article makes a comparative analysis of the relationship between public events, ceremonies and academic rituals, institutional identity, and processes of transition and power at two universities, one in Mexico and the other in South Africa. The public events examined here play a major role in imagining and bringing about political shifts...


 The Fathers of the Second Vatican Council, via constitution Sacrosanctum Concilium, postulated a reform marriage ceremony. As result, rites contained in Rituale Romanum 1952 were abolished by promulgation Ordo celebrandi matrimonium 1969. Until 1988, apart from Society Saint Pius X, was generally not celebrated according to earlier Ritual. After institution Pontifical Commission Ecclesia...

The white coat ceremony has become an academic ritual in the health professions: a ceremony that signals a transformation of status from ordinary student to that of one studying to become a health professional. While donning the white coat is a sign of a changed role, the white coat is also a powerful symbol of transformation. White is a symbol of purity, and the white coat symbolizes the purit...