Structuralism and Post-Structuralism

StructuralismStructuralism is the theory that fundamentals of human culture have to be understood in terms of their relationship to a larger system or structure.Simon Blackburn summarised that structuralism is “the belief that phenomena of human life are not intelligible except through their interrelations. These relations could constitute a structure, and behind local variations in the surface culture, there are constant laws of abstract culture.” This essentially means that human life is based around interrelations, which creates a structure. This structure is often one of hierarchy which is a system that has been present for many years.

Structuralism SummaryStructuralism was developed in Europe in the mid to late 20th century. In basic terms, it argued that human culture may be understood by a means of structure, such as language, which can be referred to as structural linguistics.

Post - StructuralismPost – structuralism was formulated by American academics, but was based on the varied works of French philosophers who became known in the 1960s and 70s, such as Claude Levi-Strausse, Michel Foucalt, Ferdinand de Saussre and Jacques Lacan. Its main theme is the instability in the human sciences, and it is essentially a response to structuralism. Post – structuralist authors all present different critiques of structuralism, but similarities between them include the rejection of the self-sufficiency of the structures defining structuralism, and the questioningof the binary opposites that constitute those structures.

Post–Structuralism with Postmodernism

The movement of post – structuralism is closely related to postmodernism, which is a late 20th century movement in the arts, architecture and philosophy, amongst other things, that was the departure from modernism. Postmodernism includes sceptical interpretations of all of these things. The reason why it is associated with post–structuralism is because its usage as a term gained significant popularity at the same time as twentieth century post-structural thought.

Structuralism in MediaStructuralism is key in understanding different forms of media, as it characterises our way of life, and particularly how we communicate. Its purpose in media is to help us understand how signs work because signs follow a structure which determines the way we understand.