Socio-Political Symbolism and the Transformation of Consciousness

Abstract

It occurs to us that one of the aspects generally left out of the discussion of the symbol is an analysis of its transformative role as a social and political phenomenon. The question we wish to raise in this chapter is this: how does the symbol function as a linguistic agent for the transformation of the consciousness of a socio-political group? This question centers around the issue of individual and social motivation in the sense that symbols may be used to transform the consciousness of groups in such a way that effective social change may result. Certainly, the American political and social experience of the last decade could be characterized by such a use of symbols, with, as a consequence, a series of transformations of consciousness which has changed the American social and political experience considerably. Although we shall delay discussions of specific instances of such transformation until later, one need only refer to such symbolic visions as John F. Kennedy’s vision of The New Frontier, Martin Luther King’s speeches in behalf of disenfranchised black society, the rhetoric of student protest, the arguments for militancy on behalf of the Black Panthers, the more radical splinter groups of the Students for a Democratic Society, recent critiques of the University and the neo-Marxist critique of technological society. There are several reasons for suggesting that these social and political attempts to transform are involved with symbolic rather than literal or ordinary constructions, charged in many cases with the highly symbolic visions of utopia rather than mundane views of a static society. In order to answer our original question we shall consider a number of situations wherein the symbol does function as the foundation for social-polit- ical transformation. It will also be possible to give some consideration to precisely how it is done.