Writing Degree Zero. Mythologies
Mythologies is the title of a collection of essays examining the tendency of contemporary social value systems to create modern myths. Barthes also looks at the semiology of the process of myth creation, updating Ferdinand de Saussure's system of sign analysis by adding a second level where signs are elevated to the level of myth. It is considered to be a key antecedent of cultural studies.
In writing about the process of mythologization, Barthes refers to the tendency of socially constructed notions, narratives, and assumptions to become "naturalized", that is, taken unquestioningly as given within a particular culture.
Roland Barthes
Roland Barthes (12 November 1915 – 25 March 1980) was a French literary theorist, philosopher, critic, and semiotician. Barthes's work extended over many fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, existentialism, social theory, Marxism and post-structuralism.
