Working Paper 161

Title
Ringing the First Bell: ritual and the management of mutual expectations in large-scale interactions

Author
Patrick Heady

Department
Department ‘Integration and Conflict’

Year of publication
2015

Number of pages
15

Download
Working Paper 161

Abstract
Effective cooperation depends on the coordination of expectations and intentions. In very small groups this can be achieved through the human capacity for empathetic interaction; but in larger groups and ongoing communities something more is required. This is provided by a universal system of structure-and-time cognition, which is manifested in temporal rituals of transition and renewal. The main features of the system are described, and its relations to rational choice and evolutionary theory are discussed. The argument is illustrated by an analysis of the ceremony that opens the Russian school year.