Not Your Grandma’s Knitting

Abstract

Drawing on participant ethnography and interviews of members of a knitting circle, this study examines how social psychological processes trigger changes to the meanings and practices associated with knitting. The findings detail how women in the group invoke a range of strategies to reshape the meanings and practices associated with knitting, while also defining and policing the material practices associated with knitting in such a way that the activity corresponds with the self-concept of members. The case illustrates how identity-related processes structure the adoption of new cultural practices. More broadly, the research calls attention to the role of social psychological processes in the production of culture.