Stuart Hall Race Is A Floating Signifier Summary

According to Stuart Hall race is a floating signifier. Hall defines a signifier as a concept in which a word is given is a specific meaning based on society and culture (Hall, 1997). The word race would have no meaning at all if it was not for the events that shaped the word to what it is today. When the word race is used, it causes uneasiness in the room due to the range of people it affects. Hall believes that race is deemed to be negative not because of the events associated with the word, but rather the phrases and statements associated with the word race. For example, in the early 1960s the word race was deemed to be negative due to words associated with it such as segregation, injustice, colored, and inequality. The terms associated with race in the 1960s created a negative stigma resulting in tensions to search

When looking at race through a religious perspective humans tend to define people with similar beliefs in groups. Halls begins by discussing the how the people perceived the new and old world. In the old-world religion was the answer to all questions. However, in the new world science answered many questions. Hall states, “and here for centuries it was not science, but religion, religion standing as the signifier of knowledge and truth” (Hall, 1997). Prior to science individuals saw themselves as one community or worshipers of god. When science came along humans began to look at genetics and physical attributes to define their positions in society. For example, scientist have tried to link race with academic performance. Minority students’ academic performance is lower than the majority. In this example scientist try to compare knowledge and race instead of figuring out what attributes make an individual successful. Hall denounces the scientific definition of race because science just tries to correlate facts instead of understanding the true cause a