While structuralism does not deny the existence of an external, universal reality, it does deny the possibility of humans having access to this reality. However, in more recent times, the study of semiotics has relied not just on structuralist linguistics but has also encompassed more fluid models that incorporate psychoanalytic elements. In contrast, for poststructuralists, such as Derrida , the signified is only a moment in a never-ending process of signification where meaning is produced not in a stable, referential relation between subject and object, but within an infinite, intertextual play of signifiers. Signs are thought of as reflecting basic reality. Signs mask reality.
Signs mask the absence of reality.
When, eventually, the map becomes tattered and frayed, and ultimately disintegrates, the people become nostalgic for it, feeling that they have lost something. The real territory which is now revealed to them seems alien, unfamiliar. The story might sound hokey, but it does have some relevance when applied to pomo theory and the nature of reality . Someone like Baudrillard , for example, would argue that we, as a society, have lost touch with reality. Instead, we're hooked into a simulation of reality, made up of television , the Internet, etc.