Binary Oppositions in American Society and Culture

This book, which explores the social, psychological, cultural and political significance of the concept of binarism, is intertextual in nature and borrows from the ideas and writings of scholars whose ideas help us understand binarism and from some modified and updated versions of my previous writings. The concept of intertextuality is derived from the writings of the Russian communications theorist M. M. Bakhtin and his theories about dialogism, which are of central importance in this book. Intertextuality is a concept that refers to the interconnectedness of texts, where one text refers to quotes, or incorporates elements from another text. It is the idea that no text exists in isolation, but it is influenced by and refers to other texts that came before it. 'Binaries' is also multi-disciplinary and is a cultural studies analysis that uses semiotics, psychoanalytic theory, sociological theory and Marxist theory to investigate the role binary oppositions play in shaping American culture, character, and society.