"floating signifier" meaning in English

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
        "2": "fr",
        "3": "signifiant flottant"
      },
      "expansion": "Calque of French signifiant flottant",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque of French signifiant flottant as used by French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "floating signifiers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "head_templates": [
    {
      "args": {},
      "expansion": "floating signifier (plural floating signifiers)",
      "name": "en-noun"
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
  "senses": [
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          "kind": "other",
          "name": "English entries with incorrect language header",
          "parents": [
            "Entries with incorrect language header",
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          "name": "Philosophy",
          "orig": "en:Philosophy",
          "parents": [
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            "Fundamental"
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          "source": "w"
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          "kind": "topical",
          "langcode": "en",
          "name": "Sociology",
          "orig": "en:Sociology",
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            "All topics",
            "Fundamental"
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      "examples": [
        {
          "ref": "2020, Ina Kudde, Miranda Loli, “Corruption and populism: the linkage”, in Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Paul M. Heywood, editors, A Research Agenda for Studies of Corruption, →ISBN, page 122:",
          "text": "However, the elite as a target for populist resentments remains quite fuzzy and rather serves as a floating signifier oscillating between the ‘political establishment’, the ‘economic elite’, the ‘cultural elite’ and the ‘media elite’: in short, one homogenous corrupt group that works against the ‘general will’.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A signifier—that is, a linguistic sign, a label or slogan—with a vague and variable meaning."
      ],
      "id": "en-floating_signifier-en-noun-chzpHlBs",
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        [
          "signifier",
          "signifier"
        ],
        [
          "sign",
          "sign"
        ],
        [
          "label",
          "label"
        ],
        [
          "slogan",
          "slogan"
        ],
        [
          "vague",
          "vague"
        ],
        [
          "variable",
          "variable"
        ],
        [
          "meaning",
          "meaning"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(sociology, philosophy) A signifier—that is, a linguistic sign, a label or slogan—with a vague and variable meaning."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "philosophy",
        "sciences",
        "social-science",
        "sociology"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Claude Lévi-Strauss"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "floating signifier"
}

{
  "etymology_templates": [
    {
      "args": {
        "1": "en",
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        "3": "signifiant flottant"
      },
      "expansion": "Calque of French signifiant flottant",
      "name": "calque"
    }
  ],
  "etymology_text": "Calque of French signifiant flottant as used by French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss.",
  "forms": [
    {
      "form": "floating signifiers",
      "tags": [
        "plural"
      ]
    }
  ],
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      "expansion": "floating signifier (plural floating signifiers)",
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  "lang": "English",
  "lang_code": "en",
  "pos": "noun",
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        {
          "ref": "2020, Ina Kudde, Miranda Loli, “Corruption and populism: the linkage”, in Alina Mungiu-Pippidi, Paul M. Heywood, editors, A Research Agenda for Studies of Corruption, →ISBN, page 122:",
          "text": "However, the elite as a target for populist resentments remains quite fuzzy and rather serves as a floating signifier oscillating between the ‘political establishment’, the ‘economic elite’, the ‘cultural elite’ and the ‘media elite’: in short, one homogenous corrupt group that works against the ‘general will’.",
          "type": "quote"
        }
      ],
      "glosses": [
        "A signifier—that is, a linguistic sign, a label or slogan—with a vague and variable meaning."
      ],
      "links": [
        [
          "sociology",
          "sociology"
        ],
        [
          "philosophy",
          "philosophy"
        ],
        [
          "signifier",
          "signifier"
        ],
        [
          "sign",
          "sign"
        ],
        [
          "label",
          "label"
        ],
        [
          "slogan",
          "slogan"
        ],
        [
          "vague",
          "vague"
        ],
        [
          "variable",
          "variable"
        ],
        [
          "meaning",
          "meaning"
        ]
      ],
      "raw_glosses": [
        "(sociology, philosophy) A signifier—that is, a linguistic sign, a label or slogan—with a vague and variable meaning."
      ],
      "topics": [
        "human-sciences",
        "philosophy",
        "sciences",
        "social-science",
        "sociology"
      ],
      "wikipedia": [
        "Claude Lévi-Strauss"
      ]
    }
  ],
  "word": "floating signifier"
}