SUBSCRIBING DOMINANT CULTURE: A SEMIOTIC STUDY OF GENDER IDENTITY AND SOCIALIZATION PATTERNS IN PAKISTANI MEDIA DISCOURSE

Abstract

The present study seeks to highlight the contemporary gender socialization narrative in Pakistani media discourse. Media discourse tends to represent dominant gender ideology mechanism which is implicitly employed by the advertisers through semiotic modes. It has the power to (re)frame the ideology of larger audience through significant visual/linguistic content and paves the way for social change through viable social institutions which disseminate information to a wider audience. The study follows theoretical stance propounded by Dyer (1982) in Advertising as Communication. The domain of semiotics (order of signification) is a reliable and valid tool for investigating meaning making process in media discourse. The data is comprised of some popular television commercials which are broadcast on the most viewed channels during the peak time viewership in Pakistani context. Purposive sampling technique has been taken into account for data collection process including only those commercials which largely reflect gender socializing patterns. The study finds
that the commercials present layers of meanings via several orders of signification where gender socialization patterns are stereotypically displayed, subscribing to patriarchal structures.