`Depth Hermeneutics': Some Problems in Application to the Public Understanding of Science

J. B. Thompson's recently proposed `depth hermeneutical' method for the study of culture and ideology provides a clear and systematic account of the expectations of a critical approach to culture. However, in attempting to apply the method to one particular area of modern culture - science - certain unanticipated difficulties arise. In particular, there is exposed a crucial ambiguity regarding the relative status of the accounts offered by analysts and audiences, which if left unresolved threatens to undermine the whole intent of the method. This ambiguity is explored with reference to current research into one example of the public understanding of science - creationism - and the nature of scientists' discourse. It is suggested that the source of difficulty resides in Thompson's conception of the `mobilised meaning' of cultural products, a conception that artificially restricts the range of possible meanings a given cultural product may have, in such a manner as to accord priority - albeit unintentionally - to analysts' readings, thereby undermining the stated view of audience readings as critical appropriations. Consequently, it is considered doubtful that Thompson has been fully successful in his aim to go beyond the limitations of `semiotic' analyses.