Divided Masters

Abstract

One sociological way of looking at asset management is to see my respondents in a structured situation where despite individual differences we can ask what elements in their situation are common. What sorts of things normally happen, what has to occur, and what are the aims in the situation? By abstracting features of their institutionally defined roles (what they are expected to do and how they should relate to others) it may be possible to create a model of what happens in order to understand more effectively what can go wrong or cause confusion. Social roles and what is considered normative within them can also structure both the experience and the expression of emotion (Turner and Stets 2005). In this chapter I want to look at the structure of my participants’ roles, particularly at aspects of their relationship with their clients and the implications it seemed to have for their experience and then their decision-making and so at the way a market institutionalised with intermediaries actually works.