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Social Semiotics

 


Social Semiotics

What, Who, and Why?
Discovered by Ferdinand de Saussure, social semiotics is the exploration and discovery the ways humans attach meaning to specific social practices and systems.  Semiotic methodology identifies the meaning represented in messages with and without a language aspect, including signs, symbols, sculptures, art/imagery, messages, many more communicative forms (Mingers and Willcocks, 2017). Semiotics aim to look deeper than language, interpreting meaning beyond it. This type of understanding is important to the interpretation of human insights. Cultural and societal context is expressed through gestures, actions, and imagery and differs across the globe. Visuals are impactful on societies, students, audiences and can be used to help in learning, advertising, and propaganda. 


The Rules
There are rules that apply to this methodology. There are two parts to a sign: signifier and signified. The signifier is the physical representation present. The signified is the associated meaning to the signifier. Photos and visuals are placed according to these rules and the meaning associated with their presentation.  Some examples of this include...
Top Left - Importance
Bottom Right - Resolution
Right - Progression Forward
Left - Go Back
There are different modes within social semiotics as well, which are investigated or used to create proper communications. These are visual, verbal. language, audible and gestural speech (Bezemer, 2020). There is a power dynamic to this methodology also, changes in power can change our accepted language and interpretations. Multimodality is used to connect multiple different modes. These can be used together in order to infer more information.  

Our Examples
Let's try our hand at analyzing images using social semiotics...
Here we have a McDonald's ad. At first glance we see an order of fries plugged into a charger. As technology is such a large part of our lives and society, the charger is indicative of that. When we notice the note at the top of the ad, "Get fully charged", in correspondence with the charger, audiences can assume the fries give you energy! Audiences are able to view this ad in its broken-down form without realizing it. If they order McDonald's fries they will be energized, this will lead them to wanting to buy more and downloading the app to do so. It is clever and culturally relevant. 

Here is another McDonald's ad. The signifier here is the cow. The signified is the little girls. The cow is evidence that milkshakes are made with real milk from real cows. The children represent innocence and fun. The scenery is very natural making the audience see their milkshakes as natural as well. The overall image is very soft and wholesome, the setup is inviting and safe to the audience, which encourages purchasing their products.  

References

Bezemer, J. (2020). Social semiotics: Theorising meaning making. Clinical Education for the Health Professions, 1–18. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-6106-7_26-1

Mingers, J., & Willcocks, L. (2017). An integrative semiotic methodology for is Research. Information and Organization, 27(1), 17–36. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.infoandorg.2016.12.001





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