Scenes, Semiotics and the New Real ― Exploring the Value of Originality and Difference

What connects a successful London Borough to a local market in Italy, via new approaches to criminal justice and big wave surfing? This book proposes the idea that they all represent 'scenes': each is an example of something so authentic, original, and therefore so attractive, that it acts as a powerful vehicle for introducing new ideas, perspectives and behaviours. In Scenes, Semiotics and The New Real, 'scenes' are considered in detail through a semiotic perspective. In particular, Brown examines the types of scene that exist, along with related concepts such as authenticity and the 'really' real. It also explores the effectiveness of scenes in spreading new actions and ideas, as well as their role in both facilitating 'difference' and introducing originality and newness in modern society. Finally, the book deals with the fragility of scenes, why they can often become subsumed by normality and how this might be prevented.

Chris Brown is Senior Lecturer at UCL Institute of Education, UK. With a long-standing interest in the application of sociological theory to the issues of day-to-day life, he has written three books and won the AERA Emerging Scholar Award (2015) in recognition of his work.