Master Signifers, Aggression, and Truth.

Developments in linguistics and in anthropology brought this idea into use in the early parts of the last century. I shall not lecture you on it but invite you to cut to the chase.

There are words or phrases frequently uttered that have great power but very little meaning - they appear unattached to other elements either in a sentence or in the world. They point to nothing. The vagueness of this can raise anxiety, especially when uttered by people occupying positions of institutional and legal power. Lets call them 'master signifiers' - they have power 'because I or We say so'.

I should add that they are not always necessarily bad. They are a part of language and life and can be extremely useful and put to the good with care. They are a necessary feature of language, in fact, because when we speak we are usually trying to speak about something beyond speech, something that our speech aims to invoke. I think this might be particularly difficult for native English speakers to grasp, because we are so seldom required to face the foreigness of our mother tongue. If we forget this nature of language, however, we can easily forget how important it is to attend to the invention and deployment of master signifiers. Lets keep this practical.

Three of the major master signifiers that organise the discourse around the hpc are: Evidence, Public Protection, and Regulation. I have been trying to turn Public Protection into a meaningful phrase by attaching it to specific examples and paying particular attention to its use (which section of the public is being protected, from what particular harm, and on which specific occasion?). In this way the signifier is introduced to other signifiers with which it is revealed to have an otherwise hidden relation. The concealed relations leave them unquestionable, and we have seen in the case studies particularly, that this can be seriously unhelpful.

When the relations are left in the dark, the phrase can get wielded rather aggressively - intentionally or not - by someone who happens to be occupying a position of power. If used by someone not in any kind of position of power you can safely ignore them as a babbling fool. Unfortunately, these phrases are very often heard coming out of the mouths of people in positions of power - journalists, politicians, members of panels, committee members, for example. To call these people babbling fools might be true in that particular moment, and there have been times in this country when it has been perfectly acceptable to say so, even if you are no-one in particular yourself. But - and its a big but, and one that needs to be acknowledged and understood - at the moment because these people are supported by society and given positions of power, calling them such without great tact seems likely to provoke much more than their own personal wrath. It is as if the whole edifice will crumble away with them, as if they personally are the power. To speak out seems to risk bringing the power of the institution right down on your head.

So, master signifiers are instruments of power: they are cut off from meaning and draw attention to the power of the person that speaks; and they are used to cut off meaning in other conversations, to disempower other speakers - this is a double whammy.