Editing Structuralism (section)

== History and background ==
The term ''structuralism'' is ambiguous, referring to different schools of thought in different contexts. As such, the movement in [[humanities]] and [[social sciences]] called structuralism relates to [[sociology]]. [[Émile Durkheim|Emile Durkheim]] based his sociological concept on 'structure' and 'function', and from his work emerged the sociological approach of [[structural functionalism]].

Apart from Durkheim's use of the term ''structure'', the [[Semiotics|semiological]] concept of [[Ferdinand de Saussure]] became fundamental for structuralism. Saussure conceived language and society as a system of relations. His linguistic approach was also a refutation of [[evolutionary linguistics]].

Structuralism in Europe developed in the early 20th century, mainly in [[French Third Republic|France]] and the [[Russian Empire]], in the [[structural linguistics]] of [[Ferdinand de Saussure]] and the subsequent [[Prague Linguistic Circle|Prague]], [[Moscow linguistic circle|Moscow]], and [[The Copenhagen school (linguistics)|Copenhagen]] schools of linguistics. As an intellectual movement, structuralism became the heir to [[existentialism]]. After World War II, an array of scholars in the [[humanities]] borrowed Saussure's concepts for use in their respective fields. French anthropologist [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]] was arguably the first such scholar, sparking a widespread interest in structuralism.

Throughout the 1940s and 1950s, [[existentialism]], such as that propounded by [[Jean-Paul Sartre]], was the dominant European [[Intellectual history|intellectual movement]]. Structuralism rose to prominence in France in the wake of existentialism, particularly in the 1960s. The initial popularity of structuralism in France led to its spread across the globe. By the early 1960s, structuralism as a movement was coming into its own and some believed that it offered a single unified approach to human life that would embrace all disciplines.

By the late 1960s, many of structuralism's basic tenets came under attack from a new wave of predominantly French intellectuals/philosophers such as historian [[Michel Foucault]], [[Jacques Derrida]], [[Marxist philosophy|Marxist philosopher]] [[Louis Althusser]], and [[literary critic]] [[Roland Barthes]]. Though elements of their work necessarily relate to structuralism and are informed by it, these theorists eventually came to be referred to as [[Post-structuralism|post-structuralists]]. Many proponents of structuralism, such as [[Jacques Lacan|Lacan]], continue to influence [[continental philosophy]] and many of the fundamental assumptions of some of structuralism's post-structuralist critics are a continuation of structuralist thinking.

Russian functional linguist [[Roman Jakobson]] was a pivotal figure in the adaptation of structural analysis to disciplines beyond linguistics, including philosophy, anthropology, and literary theory. Jakobson was a decisive influence on anthropologist [[Claude Lévi-Strauss]], by whose work the term ''structuralism'' first appeared in reference to [[Social science|social sciences]]. Lévi-Strauss' work in turn gave rise to the structuralist movement in [[France]], also called French structuralism, influencing the thinking of other writers, most of whom disavowed themselves as being a part of this movement. This included such writers as [[Louis Althusser]] and [[Psychoanalysis|psychoanalyst]] [[Jacques Lacan]], as well as the [[structural Marxism]] of [[Nicos Poulantzas]]. [[Roland Barthes]] and [[Jacques Derrida]] focused on how structuralism could be applied to [[literature]].

===Ferdinand de Saussure ===
The origins of structuralism are connected with the work of [[Ferdinand de Saussure]] on [[linguistics]] along with the linguistics of the [[Prague Linguistic Circle|Prague]] and [[Moscow linguistic circle|Moscow]] schools. In brief, Saussure's [[structural linguistics]] propounded three related concepts.<ref name="Blackburn">[[Simon Blackburn|Blackburn, Simon]], ed. 2008. "Structuralism." In ''[[Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy]]'' (2nd rev. ed.). Oxford: [[Oxford University Press]]. {{ISBN|978-0-19-954143-0}}. p. 353.</ref><ref>[[Ferdinand de Saussure|de Saussure, Ferdinand]]. 1916. ''[[Course in General Linguistics|Cours de linguistique generale]]'', published by [[Charles Bally|C. Bally]] and [[Albert Sechehaye|A. Sechehaye]]. Paris: Payot.</ref>
 
# Saussure argued for a distinction between ''[[Langue and parole|langue]]'' (an idealized abstraction of language) and ''parole'' (language as actually used in daily life). He argued that a "sign" is composed of a "signified" (''[[signifié]]'', i.e. an abstract concept or idea) and a "signifier" (''signifiant'', i.e. the perceived sound/visual image).
# Because different languages have different words to refer to the same objects or concepts, there is no intrinsic reason why a specific signifier is used to express a given concept or idea. It is thus "arbitrary."
# Signs gain their meaning from their relationships and contrasts with other signs. As he wrote, "in language, there are only differences 'without positive terms.{{'"}}<ref>[[Ferdinand de Saussure|de Saussure, Ferdinand]]. [1916] 1959. ''[[Course in General Linguistics]]'', translated by W. Baskin. New York: [[Philosophical Library]]. p. 120.</ref>

=== Lévi-Strauss ===
Structuralism rejected the concept of [[Human Freedom|human freedom]] and choice, focusing instead on the way that human experience and behaviour is determined by various structures. The most important initial work on this score was Lévi-Strauss's 1949 volume ''[[The Elementary Structures of Kinship]]''. Lévi-Strauss had known [[Roman Jakobson]] during their time together at the [[The New School|New School]] in [[New York City|New York]] during [[World War II|WWII]] and was influenced by both Jakobson's structuralism, as well as the American [[anthropology|anthropological]] tradition. 

In ''Elementary Structures'', he examined [[kinship]] systems from a structural point of view and demonstrated how apparently different social organizations were different permutations of a few basic kinship structures. In the late 1958, he published ''[[Structural Anthropology]]'', a collection of essays outlining his program for structuralism.

=== Lacan and Piaget ===
Blending Freud and Saussure, French [[Post-structuralism|(post)structuralist]] [[Jacques Lacan]] applied structuralism to [[psychoanalysis]]. Similarly, [[Jean Piaget]] applied structuralism to the study of [[psychology]], though in a different way. Piaget, who would better define himself as [[Constructivist epistemology|constructivist]], considered structuralism as "a method and not a doctrine," because, for him, "there exists no structure without a construction, abstract or genetic."<ref>Jean Piaget, ''Le structuralisme'', ed. PUF, 1968.</ref>

=== 'Third order' ===
Proponents of structuralism argue that a specific domain of culture may be understood by means of a structure that is modelled on language and is distinct both from the organizations of reality and those of ideas, or the imagination—the "third order."<ref>[[Gilles Deleuze|Deleuze, Gilles]]. [2002] 2004. "How Do We Recognise Structuralism?" Pp. 170–92 in ''Desert Islands and Other Texts 1953-1974'' (''Semiotext(e) Foreign Agents series''), translated by D. Lapoujade, edited by M. Taormina. Los Angeles: [[Semiotext(e)]]. {{ISBN|1-58435-018-0}}. pp. 171–73.</ref> In Lacan's [[Psychoanalysis|psychoanalytic]] theory, for example, the structural order of "[[the Symbolic]]" is distinguished both from "[[the Real]]" and "[[The Imaginary (psychoanalysis)|the Imaginary]];" similarly, in Althusser's [[Structural Marxism|Marxist]] theory, the structural order of the [[capitalist mode of production (Marxist theory)|capitalist mode of production]] is distinct both from the actual, real agents involved in its relations and from the [[Ideology|ideological]] forms in which those relations are understood.

=== Althusser ===
Although French theorist [[Louis Althusser]] is often associated with structural [[Social theory|social analysis]], which helped give rise to "[[structural Marxism]]," such association was contested by Althusser himself in the Italian foreword to the second edition of ''[[Reading Capital]]''. In this foreword Althusser states the following: 
<blockquote>
Despite the precautions we took to distinguish ourselves from the 'structuralist' ideology…, despite the decisive intervention of categories foreign to 'structuralism'…, the terminology we employed was too close in many respects to the 'structuralist' terminology not to give rise to an ambiguity. With a very few exceptions…our interpretation of Marx has generally been recognized and judged, in homage to the current fashion, as 'structuralist'.… We believe that despite the terminological ambiguity, the profound tendency of our texts was not attached to the 'structuralist' ideology.<ref>Louis Althusser and [[Étienne Balibar]]. ''Reading Capital'' trans. Ben Brewster. London: NLB, 1970. p. 7.</ref>
</blockquote>

=== Assiter ===
In a later development, [[Feminist theory|feminist theorist]] [[Alison Assiter]] enumerated four ideas common to the various forms of structuralism:<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Assiter|first=Alison|date=June 1984|title=Althusser and structuralism|url=http://www.lse.ac.uk/BJS/pastVolumes/vol35/index284.aspx|journal=British Journal of Sociology|volume=35|issue=2|pages=272–296|doi=10.2307/590235|jstor=590235|access-date=2013-07-15|archive-date=2018-10-02|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181002060829/http://www.lse.ac.uk/BJS/pastVolumes/vol35/index284.aspx|url-status=dead|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

# a structure determines the position of each element of a whole;
# every system has a structure;
# structural laws deal with co-existence rather than change; and 
# structures are the "real things" that lie beneath the surface or the appearance of meaning.