社會學，roland barthes

Roland Barthes - Semiotic Analysis

- define: Semiology/Semiotics

- define related concepts: Signs, Signifier, Signified, metalanguage,
denotation, connotation, myth

- establishes a scientific way of understanding modern/popular culture

- applies the method of semiotics in analysis of popular culture

- objects and events always meant more than themselves,
implied existence of an underlying IDEOLOGY

- to discover what is the hidden meaning behind the language,
to decode the signs

- influenced by Karl Marx's social thoughts on ideology & propaganda

- tools used by bourgeoisie to impose their values on others
e.g. Advertisements on consumer goods, fashion, music, literature,
magazine, photography, entertainment, food, transportation,
housing
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- going back to the basics: Within Sociology, a theory is a set of
statement that seeks to explain problems, actions or behaviour.
An effective theory may have both explanatory and predictive
power.

- Strengths: you try to figure it out (it is your assignment)

- Weaknesses includes:

- concentrates only on explanatory elements of social phenomena

- no empirical evidences (i.e. regional or timeline statistics) to
support his claims, therefore no predictive function

- did not indicate what is to be done? what is to be changed?

- only interested in "Status Quo"

- his ideas can only be considered as methods of analysis or
observation and not a Theory.

http://www.essex.ac.uk/sociology/documents/pdf/ug_journal/vol8/2012sc301_pauloguimar%C3%A3es.pdf

http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/S4B/semiotic.html

http://www.uta.edu/huma/illuminations/kell6.htm

WK