Semiotics of culture is a research field within
semiotics
Semiotics ( ) is the systematic study of sign processes and the communication of meaning. In semiotics, a sign is defined as anything that communicates intentional and unintentional meaning or feelings to the sign's interpreter.
Semiosis is a ...
that attempts to define
culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
from a semiotic perspective and as a type of human symbolic activity, creation of
sign
A sign is an object, quality, event, or entity whose presence or occurrence indicates the probable presence or occurrence of something else. A natural sign bears a causal relation to its object—for instance, thunder is a sign of storm, or me ...
s and a way of giving meaning to everything around. Therefore, here culture is understood as a
system
A system is a group of interacting or interrelated elements that act according to a set of rules to form a unified whole. A system, surrounded and influenced by its open system (systems theory), environment, is described by its boundaries, str ...
of symbols or meaningful signs. Because the main sign system is the linguistic system, the field is usually referred to as semiotics of culture and language. Under this field of study symbols are analyzed and categorized in a certain class within the hierarchal system. With postmodernity, metanarratives are no longer as pervasive and thus categorizing these symbols in this postmodern age is more difficult and rather critical.
The research field was of particular interest for the
Tartu–Moscow Semiotic School (
USSR
The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
). Linguists and semioticians from the Tartu School viewed culture as a hierarchical semiotic system consisting of a set of functions correlated to it, and linguistic codes that are used by social groups to maintain coherence. These codes are viewed as superstructures based on natural language, and here the ability of humans to symbolize is central.
Its study received a research basis also in
Japan
Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
where the idea that culture and nature should not be contrasted and contradicted but rather harmonized was developed.
See also
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Culture
Culture ( ) is a concept that encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and Social norm, norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, Social norm, customs, capabilities, Attitude (psychology), attitudes ...
*
Cultural bias
Cultural bias is the interpretation and judgment of phenomena by the standards of one's own culture. It is sometimes considered a problem central to social and human sciences, such as economics, psychology, anthropology, and sociology. Some practit ...
*
Culture theory
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Culture war
A culture war is a form of cultural conflict (metaphorical " war") between different social groups who struggle to politically impose their own ideology (moral beliefs, humane virtues, and religious practices) upon mainstream society, or upon ...
*
Cultural dissonance
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Cultural imperialism
Cultural imperialism (also cultural colonialism) comprises the culture, cultural dimensions of imperialism. The word "imperialism" describes practices in which a country engages culture (language, tradition, ritual, politics, economics) to creat ...
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(Anthropology of) Fashion
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Semiotics of dress
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Semiotics of fashion
References
* Grishakova, Marina; Salupere, Silvi. A School in the Woods: Tartu-Moscow Semiotics. In: Grishakova, M. and S. Salupere, eds. ''Theoretical Schools and Circles in the Twentieth-Century Humanities: Literary Theory, History, Philosophy''. Routledge, 2015.
* Lotman, Juri.''Culture and Explosion''. Ed. by Marina Grishakova. Trans. W. Clark. Semiotics, Communication, and Cognition, vol. 1. Berlin: De Gruyter, 2009.
* Lotman, Jurij M., and Boris A. Uspenskij. "Eterogeneità e omogeneità delle culture. Postscriptum alle tesi collettive'." Tesi per una semiotica della cultura (2006): 149–153.
* Lotman, Jurij M. La cultura come mente collettiva e i problemi della intelligenza artificiale. Guaraldi, 2014.
* Kull, Kalevi. "Juri Lotman in English." Sign Systems Studies 39.2/4 (2011): 343–356.
* Sonesson, Göran. "Between homeworld and alienworld: A primer of cultural semiotics." Sign Culture= Zeichen Kultur (2012): 315–328.
* Schleiner, Louise. Cultural Semiotics, Spenser, and the Captive Woman. Lehigh University Press, 1995.
* Torop, Peeter. "Cultural semiotics and culture." (1999).
* Torop, Peeter. "Semiotics in Tartu." (1998).
10.1.2 Semiotics of culturein Dmitriĭ Olegovich Dobrovolʹskiĭ, Dmitrij Dobrovol'skij, Elisabeth Piirainen, ''Figurative language: cross-cultural and cross-linguistic perspectives'', Emerald Group Publishing, 2005
* Salupere, Silvi;
Torop, Peeter; Kull, Kalevi (ed.) 2013. ''Beginnings of the Semiotics of Culture''. (Tartu Semiotics Library 13.) Tartu: University of Tartu Press.
* Baldini, Massimo. Semiotica della moda. Armando, 2005.
* Лотман, Ю. М. "Семиотика культуры и понятие текста." Лотман ЮМ Избранные статьи 1 (1997): 129–132.
* Успенский, Борис Андреевич. "Семиотика истории. Семиотика культуры." Избранные труды в (1994).
* Кнабе, Г. Семиотика культуры. DirectMEDIA, 2005.
* Золотых, Л. Г. "Семиотика культуры и формирование фразеологической семантики." Известия Волгоградского государственного педагогического университета 3 (2006).
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Culture
Semiotics