Famst 192ct Midterm Semester Exam

Semiology - -coined by ferdinand de saussure, it is the linguistic structure theory that says that all things have a signifier (a word used to describe something) and a signified (the meaning that the word entails Signification - -the process through which language creates meaning Connotation - -all of the social/cultural meaning that is enscribed to a word or phrase Denotation - -the literal meaning of a word Semiotics - -the study of patterns and symbols that define the relationship between an object (referent), the linguistic object used to identify it (the sign), and its perceived depiction (signified) Primitive accumulation - -in marxist thought, the direct appropriation by capitalists of natural resources or goods from communities that historically tend to hold them collectively, as, for example, where the common lands of britain were enclosed by wealthy elites and the state in the 1700s Structuralism - -a study of human experiences in terms of structures. The way we deal with these structures and how it builds the understanding of these experiences Binary oppositions - -a mode of thinking found in all cultures, according to claude levi strauss, based on opposites, such as old-young, hot-cold, and left-right. Archetypes - -emotionally charged images and thought forms that have universal meaning. They constitute structures that are used to build the frameworks of narratives Techno-economic and aesthetic representation - -representation that is realized through some economically controlled technological means and is understood based upon the "local" conditions under which it is produced Political representation - -the idea that people elect or appoint representatives to make decisions on their behalf Structures - -recurrent patterns in cultural systems which give meaning and structure to our lives Ferdinand de Saussure - -believed in the systematic nature of language - the whole is greater than the sum of its part (coherence). This is because the meaning of words is relational to context FAMST FAMST Signifier/signified - -the word that is used to represent something/the image, person, or concept that is represented by the word Referent - -the actual object/person/place that a symbol represents Reification - -to take an innate concept or quality and turn it into a standardized commodity Ex: confidence = cigarettes, personality = iphone, cleanliness = deodorant Paradigmatic - -the choices one makes to augment the perceived affect of the chain (singing vs yelling, tone, punctuation, etc) 3 elements of signs - - 1. The index - sign that is closest to the referent 2. Icon - the visual representation of the signified sign 3. Symbol - an abstracted portrayal of the signified Inter-subjectivity - -no man is an island, we become who we are depending on the ideology which we interact with during our interactions with others around us Infrastructure vs superstructure - - 1) the economic conditions around which the focal point of perceived reality is centered 2) the culture and worldviews of the individuals who constitute society, they are secondary phenomena that float ancillary to the base Gramsci - -looked at the history of Italy’s unification and noted the ways in which intellectual elements of society got people to accept the new status quo through manufactured passive consent. A process he coined hegemony Hegemony - -a struggle between different elements in society through which the ruling class creates an "acceptable" form of domination which is, usually, passively consented to by the working class. Political society - -individuals accept the authority of the state and cede to the state a monopoly over the legitimate use of violence Civil society - -organizations outside of the state that help people define and advance their own interests Jacques lacan - -(psychoanalytic) identity formation; took Freud’s theories and added a crucial component: language; a man is never totally healthy because of the breaking bond with his mother; language = outlet to experiencing things that one would not experience otherwise (feminist/poststructural application); to speak is to reaffirm the split in self; gender forever divides - phallic symbol FAMST FAMST Mirror stage (lacan) - -child experiences self as fragmentary, image in mirror is "whole" , relationship between body and image is asymptotic (close but not identical), experience both wholeness and fragmentation, gap between self and self The imaginary (lacan) - -the realm of the psyche where the child creates a gratifying unified image of itself that is both familiar and foreign Ideology - -a system of views and values which shape the way we understand reality and filter our perception of others and the world around us