Postmodern Semiotics: Material Culture and the Forms of Postmodern Life

This book is the first systematic treatment of semiotics from the perspective of postmodernism. It not only develops an important theory of the role of symbols in postmodern culture but helps the reader to analyze contemporary society by providing a series of case studies that apply theory to everyday life. Chapters are devoted to applied studies of malls, Disneyland and theme parks, the role of signs and advertising in late capitalism, fashion, the body, rock subcultures, and the question of identity.The relationship between semiotics and postmodern culture discussed in this book rejects the influence of Saussure and is based, instead on Peirce. It makes a contribution to Peircian semiotics and at the same time provides a critique of deconstruction and the cultural analysis of Baudrillard. In their place it proposes a materialist semiotics which avoids the idealism and the privileging of mental states by postmodernism. With these advances the book not only makes a substantive contribution to postmodern theory and cultural studies, but also shows the reader how to apply its insights to contemporary society.