Analyzing technology in fiction and factual texts: Toward an applied sociosemiotic methodology

Abstract

This article demonstrates the application of contemporary sociosemiotics to text analysis, illustrating how individual discourses manifest collective cultural models. Grounded in the theoretical systematization developed at the University of Turin, this essay shows how texts constitute manifestations of recurring discursive configurations that reflect shared ways of interpreting reality.

The sociosemiotic perspective conceives texts as cultural artifacts embedded within cultural networks of meaning. Individual discourses thus express recurring cultural models because authors and interpreters both inhabit shared cultural spaces characterized by common languages, practices, and experiences. Through textual analysis, researchers can translate localized discourses into broader considerations regarding how cultures conceive specific topics.

Drawing upon Greimas’s Generative Path of Meaning and Lévi-Strauss's research on mythical narratives, the methodology examines how narrative elements—characters, objects, environments—function as signs representing systems of values and worldviews. This sociosemiotic analytical framework focuses on identifying relationships between Perspective principles (subjective values and motivations) and Destination principles (collective values and order), thereby revealing underlying value systems through the concepts of topic (general theme) and focus (value positions adopted regarding that theme).

The essay demonstrates this methodology through analysis of both fictional texts and factual texts, addressing technology and its societal implications. Through comparative analysis, the study identifies some recurring cultural models, concerning how contemporary society conceptualizes technology, particularly regarding tensions between capitalist logics and human values. The analyses reveal how technology is framed as either alienating or empowering depending upon the value systems underlying its implementation, thereby demonstrating sociosemiotics' utility for reflections on socially relevant themes.