Publication: Social-ecological semiotics and the complex organization of psyche, language, and culture
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Issued Date
2024-12-01
Resource Type
ISSN
1354067X
eISSN
14617056
Scopus ID
2-s2.0-85186581430
Journal Title
Culture and Psychology
Volume
30
Issue
4
Start Page
871
End Page
886
Rights Holder(s)
SCOPUS
Bibliographic Citation
Culture and Psychology Vol.30 No.4 (2024) , 871-886
Suggested Citation
Rutherford G., Tuntivivat S. Social-ecological semiotics and the complex organization of psyche, language, and culture. Culture and Psychology Vol.30 No.4 (2024) , 871-886. 886. doi:10.1177/1354067X241236726 Retrieved from: https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14740/20051
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Abstract
In each given situation, our words and deeds carry signs and meanings that are contingent on, and reflect, the social-ecological semiotic settings. The purpose of this work is to better understand the complex organization of psyche, language, and culture. The process of hyper-generalization brings affective and cognitive opposites into the whole sign field and guides the whole relating with the world. As well, the process of semiotic mediation entails signs constraining and enhancing both interpersonal and intrapersonal psychological processes and experiences, including through nested systems (the levels of the individual-the relationship-the community-the societal). We present data for Australia and Thailand on Hofstede’s six culture dimensions, that is, power distance, uncertainty avoidance, masculinity/femininity, individualism/collectivism, short-term/long-term orientation & restraint/indulgence. An idealized and dynamic model of relations of Hofstede’s six culture dimensions and four indeterminate pronouns (e.g., ‘every’-one, ‘some’-one, ‘any’-one, ‘no’ one) is proposed. As a framework for construing the complex semiotic organization of (western, English-speaking) culture and psyche, four “cyclical” regulatory statements are outlined, regarding personal constraint, personal enhancement, cultural constraint, and cultural enhancement in language and culture, that is, in semiotic cultural psychology. Examples on the values of caring for people and planet are given to illustrate the social-ecological semiotic framework.