Between cultural studies and semiotics of culture: The case of culture jamming

The aim of the present work is to set forth a comparative analysis between two fields of study, namely "cultural studies" and "semiotics of culture" in the tradition of the Tartu-Moscow school. Although both disciplines traffic with "culture" as a complex object of study theoretical and methodological differences, as well as the historical development of their formation, set them apart The present paper seeks to explore the existing theoretical differences and potential similarities that unite or divide these two disciplines. Furthermore, the work presents an analysis of "culture jamming", as a specific form of semiotics of protest The paper seeks to analyze the techniques and methods employed by the modern "culture jammers" for the sabotage and the subversion of advertising messages and corporate logos. Taking up the two perspectives of cultural studies and semiotics of culture, different levels of analysability are shown in respect to the same object of study, namely, the practice of "subvertising".