Chapter 50

This chapter discusses the ideas of Stuart Hall, a well known British scholar. In the excerpt he argues that "difference" is a key aspect of the way we make sense of the world. He also explains four different theories which explain "difference", which according to Hall is involved in how people find meaning in the world. The four ways he describes include linguistic, social, cultural, and psychic levels. Hall helps explain the first theory by citing Saussure. Saussure believed that meaning comes from the relationship that exists between concepts. For example we know what the color black looks like because we contrast it against white. Another theory works off the ideas of Mikhail Bhaktin, who argued that meaning comes from dialogue (dialogism). He makes it a point to explain that when people converse, they must keep in mind what is currently being said and what is probably going to be said. The third idea explaining difference involves the ideas of Mary Douglas, Emile Durkheim, and Claude Levi-Strauss. According to these theorists, difference is necessary because it is behind the classification systems that we make sense of the world. The fourth and final theory of difference involves psychology and stems from the role of others in our psychic lives. According to Freud, the way we define ourselves as human beings comes from our childhood. Difference focuses on the ways people strive to find meaning in relationships, objects, works of art and life.