Examples of contexts, then, include academia, family life, citizenship, clubs. Each of these
contexts has boundaries, constraints and privileges as perceived by participants and outsiders.
The perceived boundaries may not be identical across all participants and non-participants, yet
many could agree on some of the boundaries. That is, there is some shared understanding
about the context. For example, many researchers in academia would agree that writing journal
and conference papers is more typically done within the context of academia than the context of
family life. That is, writing papers is within the boundaries of the academic context and outside
the boundaries of family life. We frequently speak of context in our everyday worlds; we speak
of “the larger context;” “in the smaller context;” “in the broader context, “ “in a narrower context,”
“in a more well-defined context.” These phrases help illustrate that the boundaries of contexts
are malleable, that is, flexible and subject to change. We can negotiate the boundaries.