The Man in the Red Coat—Management in the Circus

Authored by a circus performer/manager and an academic, this paper uses concepts from the work of Alasdair MacIntyre to interpret ethnographic material from the traditional circus. The paper outlines MacIntyre’s conceptual architecture of goods, practices and institutions in which exercise of the virtues by those who manage the institution is required to maintain the integrity of practices. Such exercise is one defining feature of what MacIntyre calls ‘practice‐based communities’. Following a discussion of method it uses ethnographic material to describe the organisation of work in the circus and the self‐understanding of the managerial role of ringmaster. A series of incidents illustrate the use of the virtue of phronêsis, practical judgement in this role to maintain the integrity of the practice. The paper concludes by considering the extent to which travelling circus may be considered an example of the practice‐based community.