Nyckelpigan som nyckelsymbol. En kultursemiotisk analys av Svenska folkpartiets partisymbol

Authors

• Sofie Strandén-Backa
• Andreas Backa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30666/elore.79050

Abstract

This article is a cultural semiotic analysis of the symbol of the Swedish People’s Party in Finland, the ladybug. The authors dwell upon why the ladybug seems to have so positive connotations and what makes it useable as a symbol of a political party. This symbol is studied as a part of a system of signs, from a cultural semiotic viewpoint, in order to show how meaning is made, and how the party – as well as everything else Swedish in Finland – is represented. Using semiotics, the authors make visible the cultural associations of the ladybug – patterns which they believe are largely unconscious. The numerous positive connotations of the ladybug from folk beliefs hint at a code connecting these pre-modern beliefs to a plethora of contemporary areas of usage. The results of the analysis are viewed in the light of Sherry Ortner’s term ‘key symbols’, and utilised to deepen the discussion about implications that the use of the ladybug has for Swedish in Finland. The authors believe that the ways in which the sign ‘ladybug’ is being used affects the ways that Swedish in Finland is represented, lived and perceived.