Semiotics with a Conscience: Decoding Dangerous Discourses

This book explores how semiotic theory and method can be used to decode false representations and dangerous discourses, demonstrating how semiotics can be a powerful science of conscience. It highlights how the same techniques that have allowed semiotics for self-serving commercial purposes can also be applied to deciphering current world problems, such as climate change and anti-science discourses.

Format: Hardback
Length: 192 pages
Publication date: 22 February 2024
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC

This book delves into the application of semiotic theory and methodology to decode false representations and dangerous discourses, presenting it as a potentially powerful science of conscience. Addressing the sometimes negative perception of semiotics as academically inward-looking and lacking in morality, Marcel Danesi challenges this notion. Instead, he emphasizes how the same techniques that have been employed for self-serving commercial purposes, such as advertising or marketing, can also be utilized to unravel current global problems. By outlining the semiotic concepts and methods that can be employed to analyze misrepresentations, propaganda, or meaning collapses, the book empowers readers to become conscientiously aware of their hidden meanings and the detrimental impact they have on society. It identifies key issues of concern, such as climate change and anti-science discourses, and demonstrates how they can be interpreted within the framework of basic semiotic theory. This analytical approach showcases how semiotics can be employed to raise awareness of critically important matters in modern society and foster the development of more robust and ethical attitudes towards them.

Dimension: 234 x 156 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781350362086