ABSTRACT
Framing is a complex concept that functions as a root metaphor about the symbolic representation of social reality (Reese, prologue, this volume). Frames are linguistically and semantically rendered inflections in the construction of shared meaning. Berger and Luckmann (1966) used the term commutation in a similar way. Commutation refers to a social constructive mechanism for differentiating between the intersubjective experience of everyday, or routine, social reality and other meaningfully interpretable embedded senses of reality contexts in which individuals also interact. Commutation is seldom a mindful activity but it can be consciously engaged. A journalism student, for example, driving to a part-time job might begin to reinterpret that experience through the lens of a journalist covering a story about transportation problems and, then, introspectively compare those perspectives. Likewise, parents anecdotally report construing the ways they relate to their children as parallels to business relationships (and vice versa). It was in this sense that Bateson (1972) discussed the concept of perceptual framing as integral to understanding how individuals construe social situations. He saw it as the constant juxtaposing of foreground (meaning of the moment) and background (meanings of a given class of social experiences) dimensions of social perception.
