Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Semiotics and Society

  • Symposium: Signs, Symbols, and Semiotics
  • Published:
Society Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

This essay introduces some of the basic concepts that can be used in applied semiotic analysis and discusses the work of some prominent semioticians, such as Ferdinande de Saussure, Charles Sander Peirce, Umberto Eco, and Roland Barthes. Barthes’ book Mythologies is identified as a seminal text in applied semiotic analysis. Marshall McLuhan’s book The Mechanical Bride is discussed as being semiotic in nature, though he doesn’t use the term. The utility of semiotics utility in studying teeth, facial expression and other aspects of people watching and communication is also dealt with.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Further Reading

  • Barthes, R. 1972. Mythologies. New York: Hill & Wang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chase, M. 1982, June 16. Your suit is pressed, hair neat, but what do your molars say? Wall Street Journal, p. 1.

  • Culler, J. 1986. Ferdinand de Saussure (Rev. Edition). Ithaca: Cornell University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Eco, U. 1976. A Theory of Semiotics. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ekman, P., & Sejnowski, T. J. 1992. Executive Summary to Final Report to NSF of the Planning Workshop on Facial Expression Understanding. Retrieved from http://face-and-emotion.com/dataface/nsfrept/exec_summary.html.

  • Lotman, Y. 1977. The Structure of the Artistic Text. Transl. Gail Lenhoff and Ronald Vroom. Ann Arbor: Michigan Slavic Contributions.

  • Lotman, Y. 1990. Universe of the Mind: A Semiotic Theory of Culture. Transl. Ann Shukman. Bloomington: Indiana University Press.

  • McLuhan, M. 1967. The Mechanical Bride: Folklore of Industrial Man. Boston: Beacon.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peirce, C. S., Quoted in Zeman, J. J. 1977. Peirce’s Theory of Signs. In T. A. Sebeok, A perfusion of signs. Bloomington: Indiana Press.

  • Pines, M. 1982, Oct. 13. How They Know What You Really Mean. San Francisco: San Francisco Chronicle.

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Broadcast and Electronic Communication Arts, San Francisco State University, 1600 Holloway Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 94132, USA

    Arthur Asa Berger

Authors
  1. Arthur Asa Berger
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Arthur Asa Berger.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Berger, A.A. Semiotics and Society. Soc 51, 22–26 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-013-9731-4

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12115-013-9731-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation