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| Preface | p. xi |
| Acknowledgments | p. xv |
| Techniques of Interpretation | p. 1 |
| Semiotic Analysis | p. 3 |
| A Brief History of the Subject | p. 3 |
| The Problem of Meaning | p. 5 |
| Social Aspects of Semiotics: The Individual and Society | p. 6 |
| Saussure on the Science of Semiology | p. 7 |
| Signs | p. 8 |
| Forms of Signs | p. 11 |
| Signs and Advertising | p. 12 |
| Material Culture | p. 12 |
| Objects and Identity | p. 13 |
| Activities and Performances | p. 13 |
| Music and Sound Effects | p. 14 |
| Signs and Truth | p. 14 |
| Facial Expressions as Signs | p. 15 |
| Hyperreality | p. 16 |
| Language and Speaking | p. 17 |
| Connotation and Denotation | p. 18 |
| The Synchronic and the Diachronic | p. 20 |
| Syntagmatic Analysis | p. 22 |
| Paradigmatic Analysis | p. 27 |
| Intertextuality | p. 29 |
| Dialogical Theory | p. 30 |
| Metaphor and Metonymy | p. 31 |
| Codes | p. 32 |
| Semiotics of the Television Medium | p. 35 |
| Some Criticisms of Semiotic Analysis | p. 37 |
| A Checklist for Semiotic Analysis of Television | p. 37 |
| Study Questions and Topics for Discussion | p. 38 |
| Annotated Bibliography | p. 39 |
| Marxist Analysis | p. 45 |
| Materialism | p. 46 |
| The Base and the Superstructure | p. 48 |
| False Consciousness and Ideology | p. 49 |
| The Frankfurt School | p. 51 |
| Class Conflict | p. 52 |
| Alienation | p. 55 |
| The Consumer Society | p. 57 |
| John Berger on Advertising | p. 60 |
| Bourgeois Heroes | p. 61 |
| Hegemony | p. 62 |
| The Problem of Media Consolidation | p. 65 |
| The Danger of Being Doctrinaire | p. 66 |
| Grid-Group Analysis | p. 68 |
| Marxist Criticism in the Postmodern World | p. 70 |
| Study Questions and Topics for Discussion | p. 71 |
| Annotated Bibliography | p. 71 |
| Psychoanalytic Criticism | p. 75 |
| The Unconscious | p. 75 |
| Sexuality | p. 78 |
| William A. Rossi on Sexual Aspects of the Foot and Shoe | p. 79 |
| The Oedipus Complex | p. 80 |
| On the Importance of Myth | p. 83 |
| Id, Ego, and Superego | p. 84 |
| The Structural Hypothesis Applied to Culture | p. 86 |
| Symbols | p. 87 |
| Defense Mechanisms | p. 89 |
| Dreams | p. 91 |
| Condensation and Displacement | p. 93 |
| Aggression and Guilt | p. 94 |
| Stereotypes and Aggressive Humor | p. 96 |
| Freud and Beyond | p. 97 |
| Jungian Psychoanalytic Theory | p. 98 |
| Archetypes | p. 98 |
| The Collective Unconscious | p. 98 |
| The Myth of the Hero | p. 99 |
| The Shadow Element in the Psyche | p. 99 |
| The Anima and the Animus | p. 100 |
| Psychoanalytic Analysis of Media: A Cautionary Note | p. 101 |
| Study Questions and Topics for Discussion | p. 102 |
| Annotated Bibliography | p. 102 |
| Sociological Analysis | p. 107 |
| Émile Durkheim on Our Social Nature | p. 108 |
| Some Basic Concepts | p. 110 |
| Alienation | p. 110 |
| Anomie | p. 110 |
| Bureaucracy | p. 111 |
| Class (Socioeconomic) | p. 111 |
| Culture | p. 112 |
| Deviance | p. 113 |
| Elites | p. 114 |
| Ethnicity | p. 114 |
| Functionalism | p. 114 |
| Lifestyle | p. 116 |
| Marginalization | p. 116 |
| Mass Communication and Mass Media | p. 117 |
| Mass Society | p. 117 |
| Postmodernism | p. 119 |
| Race | p. 120 |
| Role (Social) | p. 121 |
| Sex (Gender) | p. 122 |
| Socialization | p. 122 |
| Status | p. 124 |
| Stereotypes | p. 125 |
| Values | p. 125 |
| Uses and Gratifications | p. 126 |
| Genres and Formulas | p. 133 |
| Content Analysis | p. 135 |
| Leo Lowenthal on Content Analysis | p. 135 |
| Study Questions and Topics for Discussion | p. 138 |
| Annotated Bibliography | p. 139 |
| Applications | p. 143 |
| Murderers on the Orient Express | p. 145 |
| Organizing a Mystery | p. 145 |
| Detectives as Semioticians | p. 147 |
| Social and Political Dimensions | p. 148 |
| Poirot as Revolutionary | p. 149 |
| Study Questions and Topics for Discussion | p. 151 |
| Seven Points on the Game of Football (And Some Interesting Statistics) | p. 153 |
| Football Is a Game of Signs | p. 153 |
| Instant Replay and the Modern Sensibility | p. 154 |
| Football Socializes Us | p. 155 |
| Statistics About Televised Football | p. 157 |
| Why Baseball Is Boring | p. 158 |
| Football as an Alternative to Religion | p. 160 |
| The Marxist Perspective | p. 161 |
| Football and the Psyche | p. 162 |
| Concluding Remarks | p. 164 |
| Study Questions and Topics for Discussion | p. 165 |
| The Maiden With the Snake: Interpretations of a Print Advertisement | p. 167 |
| Signs in Signs: A Primer on Applied Semiotics | p. 167 |
| The Maiden in Paradise: A Case Study | p. 169 |
| A Paradigmatic Analysis of the Fidji Advertisement | p. 174 |
| Psychoanalytic Aspects of the Fidji Text | p. 175 |
| An Aside on Moisturizers and Anxiety | p. 176 |
| Final Comments on Perfume and Anxiety | p. 177 |
| Study Questions and Topics for Discussion | p. 178 |
| All-News Radio and the American Bourgeoisie | p. 181 |
| News and Alienation | p. 181 |
| News and Ruling-Class Ideology | p. 183 |
| Commercials and Anxiety | p. 184 |
| Caught in the Middle | p. 184 |
| News From Internet and Social Media | p. 185 |
| Study Questions and Topics for Discussion | p. 186 |
| Video Games: A New Art Form | p. 189 |
| Are Video Games an Art Form or a Medium? | p. 192 |
| New Technologies and Video Games | p. 193 |
| Janet Murray on Interactivity and Immersion | p. 194 |
| Video Games and Addiction | p. 195 |
| Video Games and the Problem of Violence | p. 196 |
| Social and Physical Problems Caused by Video Games | p. 197 |
| Video Games and Sexuality | p. 198 |
| Conclusions | p. 199 |
| Study Questions and Topics for Discussion | p. 200 |
| Cell Phones, Social Media, and the Problem of Identity | p. 201 |
| An Epiphany | p. 202 |
| Media Use by 8 - to 18-Year-Olds | p. 202 |
| Social Media | p. 204 |
| A Psychoanalytic Perspective on Youth and Social Media | p. 205 |
| The Cell Phone as Sign: A Semiotic Perspective | p. 208 |
| Marxist Perspectives on Cell Phones | p. 209 |
| Conclusions | p. 210 |
| Study Questions and Topics for Discussion | p. 211 |
| Epilogue: Shmoos and Analysis | p. 213 |
| Study Questions and Topics for Discussion | p. 214 |
| Appendix: Simulations, Activities, Gaines, and Exercises | p. 217 |
| Anatomy of a Tale | p. 217 |
| Paradigmatic Analysis | p. 218 |
| A Lévi-Straussian Analysis of Upstairs, Downstairs | p. 219 |
| Steps in Playing Lévi-Strauss | p. 219 |
| Dream Analysis | p. 220 |
| Writing a Therapeutic Fairy Tale | p. 220 |
| Origin Tales | p. 221 |
| Radio Scripts | p. 222 |
| Television Narrative Analysis | p. 222 |
| The Propp Game | p. 223 |
| An Example | p. 224 |
| Metaphors | p. 224 |
| How to Play the Metaphor Game | p. 225 |
| Things to Consider | p. 226 |
| Advertising Analysis | p. 226 |
| Playing Aaron Wildavsky | p. 227 |
| Textual Analysis | p. 229 |
| Semiotic Analysis | p. 229 |
| Marxist/Ideological Criticism | p. 230 |
| Psychoanalytic Criticism | p. 230 |
| Sociological Criticism | p. 230 |
| Glossary | p. 231 |
| References | p. 247 |
| Author Index | p. 253 |
| Subject Index | p. 255 |
| About the Author | p. 259 |
| Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved. |