Mass Media in Semiotic Perspective

Undergraduate / Graduate

Mass media are commonly understood as channels for public information, expression, and debate. Yet, mass media technologies also serve governmental and corporate actors as instruments for shaping public opinion and behavior. In this undergraduate course, we will explore this and related problems from a semiotic perspective, with special attention to the dynamic relations between state, market, culture, and language at work in projects of mass communication. We will study several theories and empirical cases (both historical and contemporary) of mass mediation. Topics will include the role of mass media in nation-state formation and control; the role of mass media in cultural and linguistic assimilation; and group subjectivity and solidarity within media publics.