Monday, March 7, 2011

The Multiaccentuality of the Ideological Sign

In simple terms one could summarize Volosinov's essay by saying that this particular text is about the instability of language within the same sign community. First, Volosinov speaks about the form of the sign and how this is shaped by the forms of social interaction (279). This statement is followed by his discussion on “the content of the sign and the evaluative accentuation [(meaning)] that accompanies all content” (279). According to the author, ideological communication depends on a collective work; therefore, it must be accepted by a group of people in order to be considered an ideological accent. A group of people is capable of creating its own restricted group of items which allow them to communicate among themselves since these items “achieve sign formation and become objects in semiotic communication” (279). However, these items have to have social value to be accepted into “the world of ideology, take shape, and establish [themselves] there (279). Volosinov claims that all ideological accents have to be socially recognized (understood) in order to be considered an ideological material.

As the title of the essay announces, the study is not only about language but about language from a Marxist point of view. One could ask, what is the importance of sign formation and this social multiaccentuality (heteroglossia) according to Marxism? The author points out the following: “Existence reflected in signs is not merely reflected by refracted. How is this refraction of existence in the ideological sign determined? By an intersecting of different oriented social interests within one and the same sign community, i.e., by the class struggle” (280).

Although the language used is the same, each social class will create its own circle of items establishing an intersection of meaning with that of the dominant ideology. And here we see the eruption of new meanings. Nevertheless, the dominant ideology opts to adopt a reactionary attitude towards the ideological sign to refract and distort the latter (281).

Valosinov's essay seems to suggest that language can also be used by the non-dominant classes as another way of resistance. However, I wonder what the role of “truth” would be in this ideological phenomena. Is it possible to have an ideology and see the real state of things at the same time? Does an ideology become mystified when the individual is enable to see the Real (Lacan's Real as used in Zizek's essay)?

2 comments:

  1. isn't "truth" another ideological sign?

    ReplyDelete
  2. What do you mean? It seems to me Valosinov and -even- Zizek present ideology as if it were a layer covering "the real state of things," limited to reflect a world view. Perhaps the ideal would be for the individual to acknowledge that an ideology and the Real are two separate 'realities,' where the first one derives from the second one.

    ReplyDelete