Stitching the Social World: The Processing of Multiple Social Structures in Communication

Abstract

Sociological theory has rarely engaged with the processing of multiple social and cultural structures in communication. The concept of “stitching” is suggested to capture this coprocessing of contexts. In line with the metaphor, communication is always imprinted by multiple social and cultural structures, thereby stitching them together. This makes communication quite complex, and it brings irritations into the structures involved. In “cross-field effects,” these have to deal with the communicative imprint of other structures and adapt to it. As a result, “structural couplings” between contexts can develop: patterns of expectations about their regular interplay. This includes the emergence of institutions spanning multiple fields (rather than springing only from one field, as in neoinstitutionalism). The construction of individual actors with multiple involvements serves as another mechanism facilitating the interplay of social structures. The social world houses various “publics” (from councils and talk shows to Twitter) that foster stitching communication between different contexts.