Key Concepts: Essential Flashcards
Communication
A process through which meanings are exchanged.
Culture
A particular way of life which expresses certain meanings and values.
Identity
The sense we have of ourselves, which we then ‘represent’ elsewhere.
A person’s social meaning.
Power
Control and influence over other people and their actions.
Representation
Refers to the construction in any medium of aspects of ‘reality’, such as people, places, objects, events, cultural identities as well as other abstract concepts. Such representations may be in speech or writing as well as still or moving pictures.
(Daniel Chandler’s definition)
Value
The worth, importance, or usefulness of something to somebody.
Codes
Systems consisting of signs. Signs are anything that has the potential to generate meaning, to signify. When a sign has generated meaning, it is said to have achieved signification. This is fundamental to the semiotic study of communication.
