Derrida, Deconstruction and Différance

Difference and Deferral

Jacques Derrida (1974) argued meaning in language is a process of difference and deferral.

Difference refers to how signs acquire meaning through their relationships to other signs. For example, we are taught the combination of letters or sounds that form the verb “stop” signifies a particular action. The verb “go” signifies a different experience. These definitions make sense because they are part of our language system.

In his Course in General Linguistics, Ferdinand de Saussure (1912) wrote “in language there are only differences without positive terms”.

However, if the word “stop” depends on its difference to “go”, can the meaning of any word ever be self-contained or fully present? When you try to define a word, the full presence of meaning is always deferred because you are led from one word to another in a never-ending search for a fixed and final meaning.

Derrida introduced the term différance to emphasise how both processes of difference and deferral were essential to the production of meaning in language.

His deconstruction of language has tremendous implications for concepts such as truth and identity, suggesting no meaning or idea can ever be fully self-present or fully grasped. Before we explore the impact of Derrida’s philosophy on our understanding of gender and ethnicity, let’s clarify the key terms of his argument by working through the example of traffic signals.

The Deconstruction of Traffic Signals

Signs are the fundamental units of meaning used in communication. Spoken and written words are the most obvious examples, but signs are also the numbers, images, symbols, sounds, gestures and objects we use to share our thoughts with each other and the world.

Traffic signals is an interesting system to explore because its chain of meanings are accessible, and it will illustrate Jacques Derrida’s concepts quite effectively.

Difference

Structuralists, such as Ferdinand de Saussure, believe that meaning is derived from the relationships between elements within a system.

The red light signifies the need to come to a complete stop at the junction. We appreciate this meaning because of its difference to a green light which signifies you can go if the way is clear. The value of each sign depends on the other signs in the highway code.

Presence and Absence

Derrida argued these meanings are not stable.

Take a closer look at the traffic light in the following image:

The full presence of meaning of this red light is an illusion because our interpretation of the sign relies on the “absence” of the green light.

In Derrida’s philosophy, the concept of “presence” refers to the traditional metaphysical idea that meaning, truth, or being is something fully present and self-contained. Derrida rejects this notion because he believed the presence of meaning is always disrupted by need for signs to refer to other signs in the system.

Trace

Even though the green light is absent, it still influences our interpretation of the red light. There is always a “trace” of other signs in any act of communication.

It is worth noting our stoplights can trace their origins back to Britain in the 1840s when the railroads introduced a signal system with a red flag signifying danger ahead and a green flag meant proceed with caution.

Deferral

The act of stopping your car at a red light makes no sense in isolation.

It only acquires meaning when you realise other cars are travelling in a different direction or there are pedestrians who are wating to cross the road. In America, for example, the red light might also signify the option to turn right at the intersection if the way is clear.

The meaning of a red light is not self-contained or fully present but defers to other elements in the system.

Similarly, the amber light on its own tells the driver to stop at the line, but you can go through the junction if have already crossed the line or to continue driving if stopping suddenly might cause an accident. It is up to the driver to interpret the sign by taking account of the context of the junction.

Therefore, the meaning of the amber light is not immediate or fully present. Its meaning is always postponed, never fully grasped in the present, and constantly dependent on what is absent or what speed you are going!

Différance

Derrida coined the term différance to illustrate the dual processes of “difference” and “deferral” in the way meaning is constructed in language.

By replacing the letter “e” in the French word différence with an “a” to create différance, Derrida was drawing attention to how words are shaped by their distinction from other words in the language system.

Importantly, différance cannot be distinguished from difference when spoken because the two words sound identical in French. This play on pronunciation emphasises the limitations of language and how meaning can never be fully present.

Derrida described différance as “an economic concept designating the production of differing/deferring”. It is “neither a word nor a concept” but a “gesture of control” – an attempt to define the processes of difference and deferral in the production of meaning in language.

Perhaps the combination of red and amber on the traffic light is a gesture of control without fixed or self-present meaning.

Deconstruction

The word différance was designed to resist meaning.

However, deconstruction is not about destroying structures or rejecting meaning. Derrida wanted to challenge our assumptions that words and concepts have fixed interpretations and encourage us to critically evaluate our understanding of the world.

“The movements of deconstruction do not destroy structures from the outside.”

Logocentrism

Many Western philosophers believed the spoken word was the primary form of language because it represented an immediate presence of thought and reality. By contrast, writing was a derivative representation of speech because it worked in the absence of the speaker.

In Of Grammatology (1974), for example, Derrida quoted Aristotle: “spoken words are the symbols of mental experience and written words are the symbols of spoken words”.

This belief in speech as the fundamental expression of truth is known as logocentrism.

Derrida rejected this hierarchy and argued meaning was not fully present in any act of communication. It is the interplay of signs that produces meaning.

Binary Oppositions

Our views of the world are often structured by binary oppositions where one of the concepts is privileged over the other. The priority given to speech over the written word is a good example of this sort of hierarchy. Good is preferred to evil and we are taught to make decisions based on reason rather than our emotions.

Deconstruction challenges these assumptions by showing that the terms are not independent but rely on each other for meaning. For instance, “presence” can only be understood in relation to “absence”, so the supposedly superior term is always marked by the trace of its opposite.

Gender and Deconstruction

We can also deconstruct gender identities and argue masculinity and femininity are not absolute but are social constructs dependent on each other for meaning through the processes of difference and deferral.

Watch this 2002 advertisement for Nestlé’s Yorkie bar:

The story is straightforward: a young woman has to disguise herself as a man to buy the chocolate bar because they are “not for girls”.

The advertisement plays on the idea that men and women are inherently different in their preferences, behaviours, and identities. The shopkeeper is reinforcing that traditional ideology with the message that women should distance themselves from anything deemed masculine to affirm their femininity.

Although the stereotypes are exaggerated, the audience are being positioned to view men and women as opposing categories. Women are not supposed to understand the complexities of the off-side rule in football or to be able to open jars. Men are supposed to be strong and wear hard hats.

However, the deconstruction of gender identities suggests meaning can never be fully present in our concepts of femininity and masculinity. They are determined by cultural norms and social practices rather than being natural or essential. The protagonist in this narrative is not afraid of spiders.

The iconic CK One fragrance campaign, launched in 1994, was one of the first major advertising efforts to embrace gender inclusivity. Featuring models of various identities and styles, the campaign challenged the notion of gender-specific products by promoting a unisex fragrance.

This campaign positioned the audience to reject the idea that certain scents or products should be tied to masculine or feminine categories.

By destabilising the binary, deconstruction opens the possibility for a more fluid and diverse understanding of gender. Our introduction to Judith Butler and gender trouble goes into more detail about performativity and the argument that gender is not fixed or predetermined.

Ethnicity and Deconstruction

In our summary of the key concepts in post-colonialism, we explored how the European imperial powers positioned themselves as civilised, industrialised and progressive. They were the superior forces in the world. Other societies were conceptualised as barbaric and irrational.

This binary opposition was used to justify European expansion.

The deconstruction of ethnicity exposes how these identities are social and cultural constructs. The representation of the progressive and superior European (the Self) depended on the negative representation of the Other. Gayatri Chakravorty Spivak called this process Othering. She is also the translator of the version Of Grammatology we have been referring to in this introduction to Jacques Derrida’s key concepts.

Conclusion

Although Jacques Derrida is a respected French philosopher, he called himself an historian. We often think history is a series of events that occurred in the past. Derrida was interested in the ways these events were recorded, but he also wanted to deconstruct the biases and contradictions in historical and philosophical texts.

History is never purely objective or neutral. Representations are always mediated through language, culture, and power. When it is our turn to write the narrative, we need to be careful and think about what is being included, excluded, emphasised, and marginalised.