THE COMMODIFIED 23, OR, JORDAN,MICHAEL AS TEXT

Semiotics is employed in an examination of Michael Jordan (the signifi ed) and his uniform number (the signifier). A systematic comparative f ramework is used to limit the potentially infinite multiplicity of int erpretants. Its themes are the way Jordan expresses the modernity-post modernity division and is, himself, an aspect of this cultural charact erization. Seven diacritical alternatives are considered: (a) seculari sm versus immanence; (b) bureaucratization versus decanonization; (c) equality versus diversity; (d) rationality versus intensities; (e) obs ession with records versus spectacles; (f) quantification versus fragm entation; and, (g) specialization versus commodification. Treating Jor dan as text, as postmodern athlete archetype, leads to a consideration of the commodification of his number, a process in which Jordan himse lf is transformed into a salable commodity.