ABSTRACT
This chapter outlines the basis of a 'non-psychological' theory of identification. The 'magic' of the master signifier in the ideological field is that it is able to knit together different constituencies, appealing equally, albeit in very different ways, to a variety of classes who are otherwise opposed in their political agendas. Laclau prefers to refer to empty as opposed to a master signifiers. Doing so draws attention to the fact that master signifiers have no intrinsic or essential meaning. The indeterminacy of Mandela is less important than the fact that a system of signification acquires a centring-point, navigational principle via which all associated signifiers acquire meaning and value. As components of ideology, master signifiers do not so much eliminate opposing terms as re-articulate them. Rival ideological terms come thus to be reintegrated, arranged in a different set of signifying relations.
