E 341 Lecture Notes - Social Inequality, Bourgeoisie, Jonathan Culler
Document Summary
Draws analogy between structuralist description how language functions and human culture functions. Culture (like language) is a system of signs. Culler notes that all social/cultural objects/events/phenomena (p. 56) Are objects or events with meaning and hence, signs . Do not have essences (like linguistic signs are arbitrary) Are defined by a system of relations (i. e. , like linguistic systems in binary, paradigmatic modes, etc. ) So let"s think about what it means that the meaning of cultural events/objects/phenomena is a result of a system of relations" (relational). If human actions or productions have a meaning there must be an underlying system (langue) of distinctions (binary, paradigmatic) and conventions which makes this meaning possible. You can also approach the meaning of an action diachronically (the analogy here is with the movement of the chess piece over time you trace its value over the various positions it has occupied over the board).
