Social domains are characterized by their own idiosyncratic interactional choreographies - which incorporate localized forms of immanent, deliberative and representational sensemaking. These choreographies continually constitute and reconstitute the prevailing institutions in specific domains - that is, the array of recognizable subjects, objects, and activities by which domains are populated, and which competent participants must take into account - with profound implications for the maintenance, elaboration and reworking of those institutions, and for social life in general. In this theory paper, Christopher explores one aspect of this vast topic. he proposes simply that the differing characteristics of interactional choreographies lead to differences in their relative legibility to various groups - making the dynamics of interaction easier or harder for the members of those groups to make sense of (immanently, deliberatively, and representationally), or 'to read'. He argues that this simple premise entails several significant implications, as differences in the legibility of domains give rise to differing status dynamics, differing dynamics of institutional elaboration (or endogenous institutional change), and different likelihoods of exogenously driven revolutionary change. Christopher proposes a typology of interactional choreographies that connects differences in legibility to these various dynamics. Further, he argues that legibility is itself a matter of concern for participants - who may seek to alter domain legibility through institutional work. Christopher will discuss the implications for institutional theory, theory on sensemaking, and for theory on power.
