Roland Barthes was a seminal thinker in the field of semiotics, which is the study of signs and sign systems. He viewed signs as having both a literal meaning, known as the signified, as well as an ideological meaning, or connotation, that is influenced by cultural and social contexts. Myths, which are second-order sign systems, take existing signs and imbue them with new ideological meanings that serve to naturalize and perpetuate the status quo. However, not all sign systems uphold dominant values, as some have the power to temporarily subvert mainstream perspectives before potentially being co-opted.

1. SEMIOTICS Of Roland Barthes

2. Basic Ideas Semiotics is the science of signs A sign is something that stands for something else Barthes focused on everyday signs that communicate ideological or “connotative” meaning Connotation is the ideological baggage that signs carry wherever they go Ideologies are the interpretive frameworks or lenses that we use to make sense of the world

3. The Sign A sign is the combination of the signifier (something that stands for something else) and the signified (the thing that the sign stands for) The relationship between signifier and signified is often arbitrary , especially in language. But some signifiers are indicative (e.g. where a cause signifies its effect); and others have an affinity with their signified (e.g. the icon of a pedestrian at a traffic stop)

4. The Sign System A sign does not stand on its own; it is part of a system of signs (e.g. in order to work, a sign often evokes its opposite , or things it is not : as the word “hill” evokes “mound” and “mountain.” Significant semiotic systems are myths that affirm the status quo as natural, inevitable and eternal

5. Myths Myths are “second order” sign systems that build on existing signs but transform the meaning of those existing signs, converting them into ideological tools. The sign of the first system becomes the signifier of the second. But the second-order sign system undercuts the historicity of the first

6. Critique Not all connotative systems uphold the dominant values Signs can subvert the status quo, at least temporarily, before they are co-opted by mainstream society.