Language and Materialism: Developments in Semiology and the Theory of the Subject / Edition 1

by Rosalind Coward, John Ellis

Overview

First published in 1977, this book presents a comprehensive and lucid guide through the labyrinths of semiology and structuralism — perhaps the most significant systems of study to have been developed in the twentieth century. The authors describe the early presuppositions of structuralism and semiology which claim to be a materialist theory of language based on Saussure’s notion of the sign. They show how these presuppositions have been challenged by work following Althusser’s development of the Marxist theory of ideology, and by Lacan’s re-reading of Freud. The book explains how the encounter of two disciplines — psychoanalysis and Marxism — on the ground of their common problem —language — has produced a new understanding of society and its subjects. It produces a critical re-examination of the traditional Marxist theory of ideology, together with the concepts of sign and identity of the subject.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781138690677
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	02/27/2018
Series:	Routledge Library Editions: Semantics and Semiology
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	178
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Rosalind Coward, John Ellis

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; 1 The Philosophical Context 2 Structuralism 3 Semiology as a science of signs 4 S/Z 5 Marxism, language, and ideology 6 On the subject of Lacan 7 The critique of the sign 8 Conclusion; Bibliography; Index