Enantiodromia--How Do Symbols Undergo an Inversion of Meaning?

Question

I am looking for writings in philosophy, semiotics, or psychology that deal with the shifts and ultimately the inversion of practical meaning in symbols. This would be something like Orwell's concept of doublespeak or Jung's references to Heraclitus and enantiodromia.

Let me give an example of what I'm thinking about. In the Roman Empire, the cross was a symbol of public execution and violent bodily domination. Under Christianity it inverts into a symbol of hope, life, and disembodied liberation. Then, in the political culture of the Ku Klux Klan, it again inverts back into a symbol of violent domination and public execution.

In other words, a "symbol" that abstractly unifies ("throws together") a society begins to undergo a doubled meaning or diabolism ("throwing apart"), forming a contradiction and generating a social schism. This is a bit like a Hegelian dialectic in reverse. I imagine there must be some well-known works on such phenomena, but I'm not sure what to call it or how to search for it.

Answer 1

In linguistics, a reclaimed or reappropriated word is a word previously used as a perjorative against some group X and now used as a signifier of in group status (amongst other things). If you are American, one particular word comes to mind.

In linguistics more generally, the notion of semantic change captures a wide variety of such phenomena: whereas "sick"'s original meaning qua adjective was "sickening", it has now broadened out to mean roughly "very cool". And you can find many such examples.

Unfortunately, I am not too well versed in semiotics. But there are many such linguistic examples.

Answer 2

Inversion in meaning that happens as an organic process is not at all like Orwell's doublespeak. The resemblence is very superficial. They are often historically contingent on many factors. I don't think that there is a theory of such.

Several recent examples come to mind which are of a piece. The way gay culture re-appropriated the term "queer" from a term of abuse to something they could be proud of. Similarly for the term "black" - for example, there is the slogan:

black and beautiful

And I've heard of similar with the term "nerd" and "geek". These may not quite be what you are looking for as the words haven't changed meaning per se. They mean the same thing but are more positively valued. But I think that one can argue that value attached to a word is part of its meaning. So perhaps, yes, they are examples.

This inversion in value were the outcome of social movements and campaigns that were egalitarian at heart. Some rooted in Christianity, others in Marxism and Liberalism.

These inversions are nothing like Orwell's double speak as the intentions are very different. The former is to emancipate an oppressed or victimised group whereas the latter is to subjugate and oppress a whole society. As Orwell points out, and which Arendt affirms, the intention of doublespeak is to destroy meaning by breaking down simple categories of truth that have a straightforward relation to reality that all rational brings can assent to. It is a mental totalitarianism that bends truth to mere caprice of the Master, in Orwells term, Big Brother. Its this mental totalitarianism that Arendt states was the signal difference between the totalitarianisms of the 20C and other despised tyrannical regimes.