Roland Barthes on Bourgeois Myths
What the book ‘Mythologies’ says about feigned innocence
Roland Barthes was a mid-20th-century French philosopher. He died a couple weeks before I was born. When he was my age, he published a book called Mythologies. It’s about what he calls “bourgeois myths” that aim to preserve power. I read a version consisting of translated selections.
I don’t necessarily agree with everything Barthes says, nor do I always like his chosen examples or writing style. His statements are repetitive and nevertheless difficult to understand. So I am not recommending Mythologies as general pleasure reading, but I do want to point out some ideas that intrigue me.
He’s Talking About De-Political Myths
I’d use the term “political myth,” but Barthes wouldn’t. Those two words are in opposition for him. As he has it, politics is reality, and myth is fantasy. So, instead, he says myth is “depoliticized speech.” Not merely non-political speech, but speech that intentionally strips out politics to resist change.
Politics, to him, refers to “the whole of human relations in their real, social structure, in their power of making the world,” presenting us with “a body of problems and solutions.” When he says “politics,” he means something like real-world…
