Power dynamics: Disrupting or maintaining of the coffee industry as an institution

Abstract

This study examines the role of symbolic capital in the maintenance and disruptionof patterns of institutional control. This article explores how the power relationsof coffee roasters have survived the changing nature of coffee consumption.This is achieved through an interpretative, qualitative study focus on thecoffee industry in United States, between 1929 and 2010. The study contendsthat market control is not only based on the economic power of dominant actors.It argues that institutional underpinnings are also importantly. More specifically,the article explores how the use of symbolic capital is reflected in organizationaldiscourse at a micro level, and in the symbolic system and power dynamics ofthe coffee roaster industry at the macro level.