Critical Hermeneutic Method Structures, Codes and Practice Recap: Keywords Nexus of Meaning Hyponoia Allegory Web of Significance Principle of Compositionality Interpretation Critical Hermeneutic Method Intentional: Producer’s intent of meaning. Purposeful constructions meant to carry a particular meaning. Assignment of corporate offices, for example. Speaks of hierarchy. Referential: Symbolic meaning. Architecture, for example. Relation of texts (office building) to referents (corporate occupants) - possibility that symbolic forms can condition recipient’s (stakeholders, competitor, customer) understanding of the referents that make the relation between power and culture. Contextual: Structural-symbolic meaning. Meaning is inseparable from social and historical context of its production and presentation. Organizational story: who is telling it, to whom, in which media etc. Critical Hermeneutic Method Conventional: To be meaningful, text follow rules or conventions that members of a particular social group tacitly understand. Conventions of encoding and decoding. Structural: Texts are constructions that display and articulated structure. For example, in an ad for a health drink, a famous sportsperson (Element A) may be placed in the same frame as the product (Element B) while the tagline (Element C) comes on screen. (Compositionality - Semantic Whole = Sum total of Semantic Parts) *Philips and Brown, Analyzing Communication in and Around Organizations: A Critical Hermeneutic Approach Characteristics Description Interpretive Moment Intentional aspect Not natural occurrences, but intentional acts of some individual or group Social - historical Referential aspect Constructions that represent something, refer to something, or say something about something Social - historical Contextual aspect Meaning is inseparable from the social and historical context of its production and reception Social - historical Conventional aspect As meaningful constructs, texts follow conventions of various kinds Formal Structural aspect The meaningfulness of a text lies in the relation of the elements that make it up. The relation is the text’s structure. Formal S/Z (Roland Barthes, 1970): Narrative Codes Hermeneutic Codes (HER): Deliberately withholding information from the audience. Leaving a plot point unexplained - make them form their own interpretation, resolve it later. (Will iPhone 14 have USB C type charging?/ Content/Market/Speculation) “Snares” or “Partial Answers” - They keep us engaged. One more thing… [Roger Ackroyd/Memories of Murder] Proairetic Codes (ACT): Coherent and meaningful order. A Sequence. Cause and effect. A pleasing tension. [Boss Fights (Git gud, anyone?)/Car chase/Avengers assemble/PandemicEconomy] S/Z (Roland Barthes, 1970): Narrative Codes Semantic Codes (SEM): Flickers of meaning. Rather than simply working on a denotational level, these signs carried connotations beyond their basic definition and gave the reader a little more insight. Translinguistic. [Brand value through logo - Coca Cola/Apple/Maruti; Platform 9 ¾; McDonald controversy] Symbolic Codes (SYM): Barthes suggested symbolic codes are a “battle” between contrasting signs. For example, the words “hot” and “cold” could be two very different semantic codes. However, when they are placed together in a story, the binary opposites help emphasise the difference between whatever characters or setting are being represented. Deliberate use of antithesis that elevates the signs to symbolic codes. [Lightsaber/Love-hate-love/ Memes/PC-Mac/Moldy whopper S/Z (Roland Barthes, 1970): Narrative Codes S/Z (Roland Barthes, 1970): Narrative Codes Cultural Codes (REF): Alluding to concepts and ideas outside the message. Need to be familiar with frameworks of knowledge. Historical, social, psychological, literary etc. Context is everything. [Dairy Milk ad/ TBBT/Simpsons/SOTY dafli waale/ Nike/ Fem Bleach] Nike - Write the Future: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSggaxXUS8k&t=9s Coldplay: Something Just Like This https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FM7MFYoylVs Witcher 3 - Blood and Wine https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pv2URQlrgis Beats by Dr. Dre - You Love Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h0rfCYy9jbI Behind the Mac https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b3VcGKv9Cfw Applying the Critical Hermeneutic Method Instructions: Choose any two you want. Three questions. Identify the Codes: Hermeneutic, Proairetic, Semantic, Symbolic, Cultural Why was this communication developed? What issue does this communication address - the strategic argumentation? Open book/internet/phone-a-friend etc. :) Objective is to practice and learn Create a Google slide and share it with me with the title: Hermeneutics and Strategic Communication Assignment - Group [number] Section [letter]
