Social Semiotics for a Complex World

Robert Hodge is an Australian academic, author, theorist and critic. While best known as a semiotician and critical linguist, his work encompasses a wide, interdisciplinary range of fields including cultural theory, media studies, chaos theory, Marxism, psychoanalysis, post-colonialism, post-modernism and many other topics both within the humanities as well as science. He is currently a professor at the University of Western Sydney.Born in Perth, Western Australia in 1940, Hodge studied English at the University of Western Australia, and graduated with first class honours in 1961. He went to Cambridge University in 1965 on a scholarship and completed a BA in 1967 and a PhD in 1972 on Intellectual History. Thereafter his working career as a lecturer and later professor took him to the University of East Anglia, Norwich 1972-1977, Murdoch University, Perth from 1977–1993, and the University of Western Sydney 1993-.His line of research has taken him from studies in ancient Greek and literature, through to linguistics, to semiotics, and towards a range of topics around cultural, media, social and political criticism. Hodge's increasingly interdisciplinary approach has grown to include history, chaos theory, critical management studies, Aboriginal issues and others. Of his twenty five published books, the most well known include 'Social Semiotics', 'Language as Ideology', and 'Myths of Oz'. Other output includes numerous articles published in journals and speeches at international conferences.

"Few scholars are as qualified as Bob Hodge to reassess, in yet another sweeping and erudite synthesis, what social semiotics can mean in a world in which communication is changing fast and gaining more and more power and influence in the process. Hodge�s eclectic approach brings out the best of recent decades of work in a truly innovative and refreshing text."Jan M. E. Blommaert, Tilburg University"This is a thoughtful, original and stimulating account of social semiotics as a uniquely powerful and inclusive framework for analysing the essential contribution of language and meaning in effective action: they are 'part of every problem and every attempted solution.' The book provides valuable insights into how this works in complex, digital and multimodal contemporary social practices."Norman Fairclough Lancaster University

• PrefacePART I: Principles and PracticesChapter 1: Key Concepts Chapter 2: Some Notes on MethodPART II: From Linguistics to SemioticsChapter 3: WordsChapter 4: GrammarChapter 5: Reading and MeaningPART III: Meaning and SocietyChapter 6: The Semiotics of RealityChapter 7: Ideology and Social MeaningChapter 8: Multiscalar AnalysisChapter 9: Conclusions