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Seriality (Context Matters)

How to understand group-making.

Jerry Silfwer
by Jerry Silfwer

Cover photo: @jerrysilfwer

tl:dr;
Seriality explains why some publics remain passive and fragmented while others suddenly unite and "click" into place. It's a matter of context.

Table of contents

Seriality is a key concept for under­stand­ing groups.

Seriality explains why some pub­lics remain pass­ive and frag­men­ted while oth­ers sud­denly unite and “click” into place. 

It’s a mat­ter of context.

Here we go:

Seriality: Context Matters

“Seriality” is a concept that emerges from iden­tity- and social the­ory, par­tic­u­larly in the works of philo­soph­ers like Jean-Paul Sartre and Iris Marion Young. It refers to how indi­vidu­als are grouped based on shared char­ac­ter­ist­ics — without a strong sense of belong­ing or identity.

Jean-Paul Sartre - Seriality - Publics
Jean-Paul Sartre (1905 – 1980). (Credit: Wikipedia.)

Sartre argued that pass­ive col­lect­ives, like people wait­ing at a bus stop, only become act­ive when they recog­nise shared interests or struggle. Many pub­lics remain “seri­al” (inact­ive) until activ­ated by con­text. 1Sartre, J.-P. (1991). Critique of dia­lect­ic­al reas­on (Vol. 2, Q. Hoare, Trans.; A. Sheridan-Smith, Ed.). Verso. (Original work pub­lished 1985.) 2Silfwer, J. (2023, October 9). Five Types of Publics. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​f​i​v​e​-​t​y​p​e​s​-​o​f​-​p​u​b​l​i​cs/

“Seriality is a key concept in under­stand­ing the con­stancy and trans­form­a­tion of iden­tity, par­tic­u­larly in pub­lic present­a­tions of the self and its online mani­fest­a­tions.”
Source: M/​C Journal 3Marshall, P. (2014). Seriality and Persona. M/​C Journal, 17, 1 – 10. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​5​2​0​4​/​m​c​j​.​802

In Sartre’s exist­en­tial­ist frame­work, seri­al­ity describes a form of social col­lectiv­ity. According to him, people can be part of a series without neces­sar­ily shar­ing a uni­fied group iden­tity. For example, people wait­ing at a bus stop are con­nec­ted by their shared situ­ation (wait­ing for the bus) but do not neces­sar­ily form a cohes­ive pub­lic with a shared iden­tity. They are sep­ar­ate indi­vidu­als linked by a com­mon object­ive or condition.

Key insights:

  • Context shapes iden­tity. We don’t form groups in a vacu­um; our iden­tit­ies emerge in response to spe­cif­ic his­tor­ic­al, social, and cul­tur­al con­texts. For example, the same indi­vidu­al might see them­selves as Swedish in Europe but Stockholm-based among Swedes.
  • Shared nar­rat­ives cre­ate mean­ing­ful groups. Benedict Anderson’s Imagined Communities shows how nations are “ima­gined” into exist­ence via shared stor­ies (e.g., media, his­tory, myth). Seriality determ­ines wheth­er people see them­selves as “part of a group” or just indi­vidu­als in par­al­lel. 4Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined com­munit­ies: Reflections on the ori­gin and spread of nation­al­ism (Revised ed.). Verso. (Original work pub­lished 1983)
  • Proximity ≠ solid­ar­ity. Just because people exist in the same space (a city, com­pany, or online for­um) doesn’t mean they see them­selves as a cohes­ive group. The activ­a­tion threshold—how much shared exper­i­ence or con­flict is needed to solid­i­fy group iden­tity — depends on context.
  • Media, search engines, and social media algorithms rein­force seri­al­ity. Social media plat­forms cur­ate inform­a­tion flows, subtly cre­at­ing group con­texts. The more people inter­act with the same nar­rat­ives and react to the same stim­uli, the stronger the group iden­tity — wheth­er or not they are phys­ic­ally together.
  • Conflict is a con­tex­tu­al group-maker. War, com­pet­i­tion, or a shared “enemy” quickly trans­forms a seri­al group into a sol­id one. This is why pop­u­lists and pro­pa­ganda machines often cre­ate a “threat­en­ing oth­er” to con­sol­id­ate a loosely con­nec­ted audi­ence into a movement.
  • Structural vs. vol­un­tary seri­al­ity. Some group mem­ber­ships are imposed by struc­ture (e.g., cit­izens of a coun­try, tax brack­ets), while oth­ers are chosen vol­un­tar­ily (e.g., sub­cul­tures, fan­doms, polit­ic­al move­ments). The degree of free­dom in join­ing affects how stable or flu­id a group is.
  • Seriality and organ­isa­tion­al beha­vi­or. Corporations rely on seri­al work­ers (indi­vidu­als per­form­ing tasks in par­al­lel) but strive for organ­isa­tion­al unity through brand­ing, mis­sion state­ments, and intern­al cul­ture-build­ing to activ­ate a shared identity.
  • Seriality and con­sumer beha­vi­or. PR and mar­ket­ing pro­fes­sion­als use seri­al­ity prin­ciples to cre­ate a sense of tri­bal belong­ing around products (e.g., Apple users, Harley-Davidson riders). By rein­for­cing a “we vs. them” dynam­ic, they turn seri­al con­sumers into a loy­al, engaged public.
  • Crisis reveals hid­den seri­al­ity. During reg­u­lar times, many pub­lics remain lat­ent — just a col­lec­tion of people shar­ing some abstract qual­ity (e.g., cit­izens of a coun­try). However, in crises (pan­dem­ics, eco­nom­ic crashes, cli­mate dis­asters), lat­ent pub­lics can rap­idly “activ­ate” into cohes­ive pub­lics. 5Silfwer, J. (2023, October 9). Five Types of Publics. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​f​i​v​e​-​t​y​p​e​s​-​o​f​-​p​u​b​l​i​cs/

Seriality explains why some pub­lics remain inact­ive and frag­men­ted while oth­ers sud­denly unite and how con­text (media, con­flict, prox­im­ity, power struc­tures) determ­ines when, how, and why a group iden­tity “clicks” into place.

Therefore, seri­al­ity is a way of under­stand­ing how indi­vidu­als can belong to col­lect­ive cat­egor­ies without neces­sar­ily hav­ing a shared demo­graph­ic identity.

Learn more: Seriality (Context Matters)

The Publics in Public Relations

Publics are a cent­ral com­pon­ent of pub­lic rela­tions — in fact, the ‘P’ in PR. However, they are often mis­un­der­stood or con­flated with mar­ket­ing’s ‘tar­get groups’.

Here’s how to define pub­lics in pub­lic relations:

Publics = psy­cho­graph­ic seg­ments (who) with sim­il­ar com­mu­nic­a­tion beha­viours (how) formed around spe­cif­ic issues (why) impact­ing a brand (to whom). 6Silfwer, J. (2015, June 11). The Publics in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​u​b​l​i​c​s​-​i​n​-​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​ns/

Please note:

Psychographic seg­ment = sim­il­ar­it­ies in cog­nit­ive driv­ing factors such as reas­on­ing, motiv­a­tions, atti­tudes, etc.

Communication beha­viours = how the pub­lic’s opin­ion is expressed (choice of mes­sage, rhet­or­ic­al fram­ing, and medi­um type).

Specific issue = determ­ined situ­ation­ally by a spe­cif­ic social object, often high on the agenda in news media or social media.

Learn more: The Publics in Public Relations

Five Types of Publics

There are plenty of inact­ive pub­lics around us in soci­ety, just “wait­ing” for extern­al situ­ations to activ­ate them and bring them togeth­er in coöper­at­ive, com­mu­nic­at­ive behaviours.

However, PR tends to focus on the already activ­ated publics:

“By focus­ing on act­iv­ism and its con­sequences, recent pub­lic rela­tions the­ory has largely ignored inact­ive pub­lics, that is, stake­hold­er groups that demon­strate low levels of know­ledge and involve­ment in the organ­isa­tion or its products, ser­vices, can­did­ates, or causes, but are import­ant to an organ­isa­tion.”
Source: Public Relations Review 7Hallahan, K. (2000). Inactive pub­lics: The for­got­ten pub­lics in pub­lic rela­tions. Public Relations Review, 26(4), 499 – 515. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​1​6​/​S​0​3​6​3​-​8​1​1​1​(​0​0​)​0​0​061 – 8

Kirk Hallahan, Professor Emeritus, Journalism and Media Communication, Colorado State University, pro­poses five types of pub­lics based on their know­ledge and involve­ment: 8Hallahan, K. (2000). Inactive pub­lics: The for­got­ten pub­lics in pub­lic rela­tions. Public Relations Review, 26(4), 499 – 515. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​1​6​/​S​0​3​6​3​-​8​1​1​1​(​0​0​)​0​0​061 – 8

Hallahan sug­gests a mod­el based on know­ledge and involvement:

As an organ­isa­tion tar­geted by act­iv­ists, what would be the best issue response? Hallahan pro­poses four prin­cip­al response strategies: 9Hallahan, K. (2009, November 19). The Dynamics of Issues Activation and Response: An Issues Processes Model. Journal of Public Relations Research. … Continue read­ing

  • Active pub­lics: Negotiation.
  • Aroused pub­lics: Intervention.
  • Aware pub­lics: Education.
  • Inactive pub­lics: Prevention.

Learn more: Five Types of Publics

Social Group Sizes (For Social Brains)

How many social con­nec­tions you you com­fort­ably sus­tain? According to the social brain hypo­thes­is, lim­its exist. 10Zhou WX, Sornette D, Hill RA, Dunbar RI. Discrete hier­arch­ic­al organ­iz­a­tion of social group sizes. Proc Biol Sci. 2005 Feb 22;272(1561):439 – 44.

“The ‘social brain hypo­thes­is’ for the evol­u­tion of large brains in prim­ates has led to evid­ence for the coe­volu­tion of neo­cor­tic­al size and social group sizes, sug­gest­ing that there is a cog­nit­ive con­straint on group size that depends, in some way, on the volume of neur­al mater­i­al avail­able for pro­cessing and syn­thes­iz­ing inform­a­tion on social rela­tion­ships.”
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 11Zhou, X., Sornette, D., Hill, R. A., & M. Dunbar, R. I. (2005). Discrete hier­arch­ic­al organ­iz­a­tion of social group sizes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 272(1561), … Continue read­ing

Scientific evid­ence sug­gests that people tend to organ­ise them­selves not in an even dis­tri­bu­tion of group sizes but in dis­crete hier­arch­ic­al social groups of more par­tic­u­lar sizes:

  • Support clique (3 – 5 people)
  • Sympathy group (12 – 20 people)
  • Band (30 – 50 people)
  • Clan (150 people)
  • Megaband (500 people)
  • Tribe (1,000 – 2,000 people)

Alas, there seems to be a dis­crete stat­ist­ic­al order in the com­plex chaos of human relationships:

“Such dis­crete scale invari­ance could be related to that iden­ti­fied in sig­na­tures of herd­ing beha­viour in fin­an­cial mar­kets and might reflect a hier­arch­ic­al pro­cessing of social near­ness by human brains.“
Source: Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences 12Zhou, X., Sornette, D., Hill, R. A., & M. Dunbar, R. I. (2005). Discrete hier­arch­ic­al organ­iz­a­tion of social group sizes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 272(1561), … Continue read­ing

Read also: Group Sizes (The Social Brain Hypothesis)

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Annotations
Annotations
1 Sartre, J.-P. (1991). Critique of dia­lect­ic­al reas­on (Vol. 2, Q. Hoare, Trans.; A. Sheridan-Smith, Ed.). Verso. (Original work pub­lished 1985.)
2, 5 Silfwer, J. (2023, October 9). Five Types of Publics. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​f​i​v​e​-​t​y​p​e​s​-​o​f​-​p​u​b​l​i​cs/
3 Marshall, P. (2014). Seriality and Persona. M/​C Journal, 17, 1 – 10. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​5​2​0​4​/​m​c​j​.​802
4 Anderson, B. (2006). Imagined com­munit­ies: Reflections on the ori­gin and spread of nation­al­ism (Revised ed.). Verso. (Original work pub­lished 1983)
6 Silfwer, J. (2015, June 11). The Publics in Public Relations. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​u​b​l​i​c​s​-​i​n​-​p​u​b​l​i​c​-​r​e​l​a​t​i​o​ns/
7, 8 Hallahan, K. (2000). Inactive pub­lics: The for­got­ten pub­lics in pub­lic rela­tions. Public Relations Review, 26(4), 499 – 515. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​1​6​/​S​0​3​6​3​-​8​1​1​1​(​0​0​)​0​0​061 – 8
9 Hallahan, K. (2009, November 19). The Dynamics of Issues Activation and Response: An Issues Processes Model. Journal of Public Relations Research. https://​www​.tand​fon​line​.com/​d​o​i​/​a​b​s​/​1​0​.​1​2​0​7​/​S​1​5​3​2​7​5​4​X​J​P​R​R​1​3​0​1_3
10 Zhou WX, Sornette D, Hill RA, Dunbar RI. Discrete hier­arch­ic­al organ­iz­a­tion of social group sizes. Proc Biol Sci. 2005 Feb 22;272(1561):439 – 44.
11, 12 Zhou, X., Sornette, D., Hill, R. A., & M. Dunbar, R. I. (2005). Discrete hier­arch­ic­al organ­iz­a­tion of social group sizes. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 272(1561), 439 – 444. https://​doi​.org/​1​0​.​1​0​9​8​/​r​s​p​b​.​2​0​0​4​.​2​970
Jerry Silfwer
Jerry Silfwerhttps://doctorspin.net/
Jerry Silfwer, alias Doctor Spin, is an awarded senior adviser specialising in public relations and digital strategy. Currently CEO at Spin Factory and KIX Communication Index. Before that, he worked at Whispr Group NYC, Springtime PR, and Spotlight PR. Based in Stockholm, Sweden.

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