The street
the ultimate locus of political intervention in modern democracy
pp. 899-914
in: International handbook of semiotics, Berlin, Springer, 2015Abstract
Ferreira and Caldas (Biosemiotics 6 (2): 245–252, 2013) have proposed the modelling of what these authors call the semiosis of cognition. Placing the essential dialectical process comprehending the living form's Innenwelt and its construed Umwelt (Uexkull, Umwelt und Innenwelt der Tiere, 1906) at the core of the model, it aims to capture the existential dynamics responsible for every semiotic process, highlighting the fundamental role played by meaning assignment in the production of behaviour. This chapter applies that initial model to the analysis and comprehension of social phenomena, taking the present Portuguese social situation as a case study, in the context of the economic crisis of the eurozone. The chapter focuses on the role played by the street as locus of political expression and interaction when political institutions fail to respond to the community's incorporated beliefs and deep expectations.