May 14: Social Construction of Meaning I: Semiotics and Ideology

1. Ferdinand de Saussure, ‘Nature of the Linguistic Sign’, in Course in General Linguistics, pp. 65-70.

2. Roland Barthes, ‘Myth Today’, in Mythologies, pp. 107-126.

3. Valentin Voloshinov, Marxism and the Philosophy of Language, Chapters 1 and 2 pp. 9-24. http://www.marxists.org/archive/voloshinov/1929/marxism-language.htm

May 19: Victoria Day (No Class)

 

 

May 21: Social Construction of Meaning II: Historical Materialism

1. Marx and Engels, The German Ideology, I. Feuerbach. Opposition of the Materialist and Idealist Outlook, pp. 37-95.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01.htm

2. Karl Marx, “Theses on Feuerbach”

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/theses.htm

3. Group Discussion #2

May 26: Social Construction of the Self I: Language and Activity

1. Lev Vygotsky, “Tool and Symbol in Child Development” http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/1934/tool-symbol.htm

(Mind in Society, Chapter 1-4, pp. 19-57.)

2. A.N. Leontiev, Activity, Consciousness, and Personality, Chapter 1, pp. 38-59. https://www.marxists.org/archive/leontev/works/1978/ch1.htm

May 28: Social Construction of the Self II: Advertising and the Subconscious

1. Edward Bernays (1928), Propaganda, pp. 9-61. http://edward-bernays.soup.io/post/19658768/Edward-Bernays-Propaganda-1928-pdf-PDF-357

2. Film: The Century of the Self, Part 4 (Adam Curtis, 2002, 60min)

3. Group Discussion #3