First published in 1992, Vocabularies of Public Life explores the revolution that has taken place in our understanding of contemporary culture and decodes a number of the symbols which now dominate public life.

Notes on contributors Introduction: New directions in the empirical study of cultural codes 1. The restriction of meaning in religious discourse: centripetal devices in a fundamentalist Christian sermon 2. The gospel of giving: the narrative construction of a sacrificial economy 3. When scientists saw ghosts and why they stopped: American spiritualism in history 4. Reading science as text 5. Paradox in the discourse of science 6. Putting it together: measuring the syntax of aural and visual symbols 7. The musical structure and social context of number one songs, 1955 to 1988: an exploratory analysis 8. A theory of pictorial discourse 9. Decoding the syntax of modern dance 10. Metaphors of industrial rationality: the social construction of electronics policy in the United States and France 11. The parameters of possible constitutional interpretation 12. The role of elites in setting agendas for public debate: a historical case 13. Materialism, ideology, and political change