Social Sciences in China, 2021

Vol. 42, No. 1, 2021

The Critical Dimension and Power of Social Semiotics: An Examination from the Perspective of Historical Materialism

(Abstract)

Fang Jun

Marx’s profound analysis of such social signs as commodity, money, and capital shows that inversion and negation are universal and rule-governed social signs and that social signs attain historical characteristics in certain social formations. The basic contradiction arising from human practice, i.e., their contradictory movement of objectification and non-objectification, is determined by the dialectical nature of practice, that is, by the relationship of negativity as a medium, and is the concrete expression of the dialectics of negativity in signs. The critique of social semiotics from the perspective of historical materialism is based on practice and reality, and points to the future; it is revolutionary and constructive. At present, the scientific construction of social semiotics can not only promote the development of semiotics, but can also be an important step in deepening historical materialism.

Keywords: social semiotics, historical materialism, semiotics