Semiotics

Sections include: Early Structuralism; Structuralism; Structural History; Post-Structuralist Thought; Semiotics; Seccnd Generation Feminism; Post-Marxism; Modernity; and Postmodernity - each including major theorists in the area.

Covers the theories, media forms, fads, celebrities and icons, genres, and terms of popular culture.

Definitions and explanations with some examples of how the terms are used and background history on the origins and development of related concepts, including photographs, line drawings and diagrams.

Definitions of key terms in semiotics and media and communication studies: short entries on major figures and ideas in these fields. Contains an index and an extensive bibliography.

Dictionary of terms and concepts, thoroughly updated to take account of recent far-reaching changes in media policy.

Signed entries on important figures, ideas and concepts in semiotics. Bibliographies accompany entries.

Detailed entries on topics and theorists in semiotics. Vols. 1 and 2 contain entries, vol. 3 contains bibliographies of books, book chapters, and articles written by various authors. Note the 1986 publishing date when consulting the bibliographies.

"[A] systematic presentation, in the form of concise and up-to-date reflections, of all aspects of language in its very broadest sense, as semiotic system(s) and/or processes" (from the preface). The book synthesizes work in semiotics by exploring the meaning(s) and uses of terminology and theories throughout the history of semiotics by including a system of taxonomy and cross-references.

This handbook includes introductions to many areas within semiotics (e.g. Nonverbal Communication; Text Semiotics) and key concepts within those areas.

See, particularly chapter 11 (French structuralism and after: de Saussure, Levi-Strauss, Barthes, Lacan, Foucault) and chapter 12 (French feminist philosophy: de Beauvoir, Kristeva, Irigaray, Le Doeuff, Cixous)