Symbols, Semiotics, and Material Culture
The Signs
Humans live in a world of meaning, and this meaning is accessible to all, some more than others. Besides some meanings that are taken for granted in our daily lives, there are others that characterize other human groups or companies. Access to these other meanings is not carried out immediately but comes through specific processes of initiation. The signal, the message, and the bearer of the message are aspects of the same thing. (Example: traffic light). In a sign, the relationship between the message and the entity that bears the message is metonymic. A crown represents a king, not because the king wears a crown, but because we understand what it signifies about special treatment.
It is high in affective and emotional content.
The meaning of a symbol goes beyond a social context. Symbols synthesize and organize beliefs and the values we hold as members of a social group. They shape and direct the development of new knowledge within the social group and help to ensure the preservation of old observations. In this sense, we must say that symbols and symbol systems may be considered extrinsic sources of information (extrapersonal mechanisms are outside people) by which we perceive, understand, judge, and manipulate the world. They are sources of information because they provide a program, a structure for organizing all kinds of processes (from organic processes to cultural patterns that we follow: aesthetic, philosophical, scientific, etc.).
They provide a standard, a model for the organization of all social processes and psychological functioning. Using symbols and systems makes possible the objectification, retention, and accumulation of human experience. This accumulation of human experience is selective and accrues under this social gathering. In this way, knowledge is transmitted from generation to generation. A characteristic of symbolic phenomena is their public nature and that symbols are tangible formulations designed for knowledge. They are abstracting from experience, which is fixed in tangible ways that people can receive. They are concrete embodiments of ideas, attitudes, values, judgments, and beliefs. Ultimately, symbolic forms are social events like any other, and they are as public as others. For example: marriage. The essential feature of the symbol is that it provides a means of representation of abstract ideas (solidarity, authority, love, hate, etc.). These ideas have great importance for the individual, and it is difficult to directly represent them.
Symbolism is highly expressive (it’s a way to say something, and that something must be understood by both the speaker and the listener or receiver). Whenever something is said, it is symbolic because it is considered worthwhile to say. What is symbolized is always something of value. Hence, attitudes towards symbols are rarely neutral; there is always more or less emotional charge. This is because there is a tendency for the value that comes with what is symbolized to be transferred to the symbol itself, so that it is the symbol and not the implicit notion that it symbolizes that becomes a special object of veneration or rejection. We must not forget the instrumental aspect of symbols. As well as expressing ideas, thoughts, and beliefs of social groups, they also have social consequences (individuals are imprisoned, condemned, burned at the stake, hanged, and wars are fought over symbols).
Semiotics and Material Culture
Symbols are not only expressed through language and writing; material objects and aspects of behavior are also used to generate and transmit cultural meanings (dress, ways of eating, hygiene practices, shouting, silences, the shape of buildings, location, etc.). Many material and behavioral aspects can be converted into entities that carry messages. In semiotics, we define the elements and behaviors that serve as symbols for citizens. The cultural elements themselves have no inherent meaning or sense; it is the value or cultural meaning that we give them. It is the code that lets us know who a person is, their role, status, and so on.
As with symbols, material objects and aspects of behavior have meaning only within a particular culture. For example, white represents joy in Western culture, whereas in Eastern cultures, it indicates sadness, funerals, and death. The color itself is unimportant; what matters is that people who dress a certain way can publicly express their joy. Semiotics is the analysis of nonverbal cultural meanings. It is a fascinating field for sociology and anthropology because it allows for easy comparison of one culture with another.
Since cultural meanings are expressed through symbols, cultural systems allow us to compare, test, and see how different cultures, distant in space and time, are structured. The importance of this is that we are learning and understanding the profound transformations experienced by the values and interests of other societies. Material culture is not just symbolic; it captures variations in human cultures. Material culture consists of those objects and material things that humans have created and used, ranging from the most primitive instruments to the most advanced machines of modern man. To see material objects as cultural objects, it is necessary to know their uses, the attitudes we have towards them, and the values that we assign to them. The body of knowledge and skills associated with these cultural elements are, alongside the elements themselves, universal elements.