Week 6 Seminar Notes

Seminar Outline
1. HOUSEKEEPING (17.30-17.40)

- CRITICAL CASE STUDY & PARTICIPATION TASK SHEET

2. INDIVIDUAL RAT (17.40-17.55)

3. TEAM RAT (17.55-18.10)

4. CHALLENGES (18.10-18.15) - ONLY IF REQUIRED 5. LECTURE INPUT (18.15-19.00),

6. ACTIVITY/APPLICATIONS (19.10-19.45)

7. SELF-ASSESSMENT & WORKSHOPPING CASE STUDY (19.45-20.15)

Important Informations, Ideas &amp; Questions
Culture & communication

SAPIR-WHORF HYPOTHESIS

Structure of language shapes not determines the way we experience the world.

- But does language determine culture? Does language restrict us to certain patterns of thinking, expression and interpreting reality?

- Or do cultural needs and priorities (i.e. culture) determine the forms of categorization which exist within a language?

'''IMPLICATIONS (of interpretations/adaptations) Positive:'''

'''Negative: Linguistic relativism:'''

LANGUAGE TO DISCOURSE

Language - 'systems of representation'

Codes

'''Structuralism

Ferdinand de Saussure & Barthes'''

Semiotics - We talked about semiotics in the class. there are some useful definitions I found from book named 'Dictionary of Sociology' [THIS NEEDS A FULLER REFERENCE, e.g. AUTHOR & YEAR]. Semiotics is the distinction between signifier, signified and sign. The signifier can be a physical object, a word or a picture of some kind. THe signified is a mental concept indicated by the signifier. THe sign is the association of signifier and signified. In practice, a single sign is capable of taking on many different meanings. This depends on the code or sub-system within which it is used and interpreted. Meaning is not the product of the sign itself, but of the code within which it is used. for instance, in western cultures, white stands for purity, and is traditionally worn at weddings, but in Chinese culture, white is a colour of mourning, and is worn at funerals.The connotations of a sign are the set of its possible signifieds and emphasises the plurity of dignifieds.

Signs

The 'signifier'

The 'signified'

'Sign systems'

- Roland Barthes

Signs can be denotative (signifier) or connotative (Signified)

'''DISCOURSE & POWER

Post-Structuralism

Derrida, Foucault, later Barthes'''

Foucault's concept of Discourse

Power/Knowledge