Semiosis, social change and governance: A critical semiotic analysis of a national campaign

Abstract

This paper deals with national public campaigns as a government technology of social change and control. Focusing on Singapore's National Courtesy Campaign, particularly undertaken in the public road and transport field in recent years, the study examines how the operation of this technology reflects current shifts in political practice. Two emerging tendencies within the style of contemporary governance in Singapore are identified: governance-through-community ('communitisation') and the 'softening' of the authorial voice (through 'informalisation'). A semiotic analysis involving the organisational, and especially textual (linguistic and visual design), practices of the 1999-2003 road and transport sector courtesy drive is undertaken to show how these style shifts are manifested, with particular interest in the kinds of social relations and identities that are textually projected, and the implications such a mode of governance has for the regulation of the Singaporean citizenry subject. © 2003 Taylor & Francis Ltd.