Semiology and a semiological reading of power myths in education

Abstract

By referring to the theory of semiology, this study aims to present how certain phrases, applications, images, and objects, which are assumed to be unnoticed in the educational process as if they were natural, could be read as signs encrypted with certain ideologically-loaded cultural codes, and to propose semiology as a method for educational studies by means of a sample analysis. Semiological reading means to interpret the objects that surround our visible environment not just with their primary meaning but also based on their cultural codes, their metaphorical meanings. The signs that surround our environment present us with an order of myths that hide political meaning and naturalize this meaning. In this regard, reading signs and making a political analysis or analyzing the ideological codes of myths adds up to the same thing. In this study mythicized discourses within the educational process were analyzed based on the semiological reading approach. In this reference frame, the cover photograph of the Social Sciences Textbook adopted for use by the 5th grade in primary schools under the Ministry of National Education (MNE) during the 2011- 2012 school year was analyzed as a sample, taking into consideration the principles of semiological analysis. It was concluded based on the signs included in the image that values recognized as the building blocks of a capitalist economy such as “technology,” “industrialization,” “progress,” “growth,” and “enrichment” were transferred through a mythical presentation.