Structuralism
is a phenomena using the metaphor of language. Words explain words
, and meaning is present as a set of structures.
Throughout the
1940s and 1950s, existentialism, such as that propounded by Jean-Paul Sartre, was the dominant European 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.
The origins of
structuralism connect with the work of Ferdinand
de Saussure on linguistics. In brief, Saussure's structural
linguistics propounded three related concepts.
1. Saussure argued for a distinction between langue (an
idealized abstraction of language) and parole (language as
actually used in daily life). He argued that the "sign" was composed
of both a "signified" (signifié), an abstract concept or idea,
and a "signifier" (signifiant), the perceived sound/visual
image.
2. 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".
3. Signs thus gain their meaning from their relationships and
contrasts with other signs. As he wrote, "in language, there are only
differences 'without positive terms.'"
According to
structural theory in anthropology and social anthropology, meaning is produced and reproduced within a culture through
various practices, phenomena and activities that serve as systems of
signification. A structuralist approach may study activities as diverse as food-preparation
and serving rituals, religious rites, games, literary and non-literary texts,
and other forms of entertainment to discover the deep structures by which
meaning is produced and reproduced within the culture
Another concept
used in structural anthropology came from the Prague
school of linguistics,
where Roman
Jakobson and
others analysed sounds based on the presence or absence of certain features
(such as voiceless vs. voiced). Lévi-Strauss included this in his
conceptualization of the universal structures of the mind, which he held to
operate based on pairs of binary oppositions such as hot-cold, male-female,
culture-nature,.
In literary theory, structuralist criticism relates
literary texts to a larger structure, which may be a particular genre,
a range of intertextual connections, a model of a
universal narrative
structure, or a system
of recurrent patterns or motifs. The field of structuralist
semiotics argues that there must be a structure in every text, which
explains why it is easier for experienced readers than for non-experienced
readers to interpret a text. Hence, everything that is written seems to be
governed by specific rules, or a "grammar of literature", that one
learns in educational institutions and that are to be unmasked.
Poststructuralism
challenges scientism in the human sciences, introduces an anti-foundationalism
in epistemology and a new emphasis upon perspectivism in interpretation.
The
movement challenges the rationalism and realism that structuralism continues
from positivism, structuralist approach to discern and identify universal
structures of all cultures and the human mind.
Critiques of
structuralism
(1) that no
system can be autonomous (self-sufficient) in the way that structuralism
requires; and
(2) that the
defining dichotomies on which structuralist system are based express
distinctions that do not hold up under careful scrutiny ...
Poststructuralism
can be characterized as a mode of thinking, a style of philosophizing, and a
kind of writing yet the term should not be used to convey a sense of
homogeneity, singularity and unity. The very term 'poststructuralism' is
American in origin and that "poststructuralist theory" names a
uniquely American practice, which is based upon an assimilation of the work of
a diverse range of theorists.
More
generally, we might say that the term is a label used in English-speaking
academic community to describe a distinctively philosophical response
to the structuralism characterizing the work Claude Lévi-Strauss
(anthropology), Louis Althusser (Marxism), Jacques Lacan (psychoanalysis), and
Roland Barthes (literature). Manfred Frank (1988),
A contemporary
German philosopher, for his part prefers the term "neo-structuralism"
emphasizing a continuity with "structuralism”.
"Post-Structuralism
is a critique of Structuralism conducted from within: that is, it turns certain
of Structuralism's arguments against itself and points to certain fundamental
inconsistencies in their method which Structuralists have ignored"
All of these
locutions "poststructuralism", "neo-structuralism" and
"superstructuralism" entertain as central the movement's historical,
institutional, and theoretical proximity to "structuralism".
Yet
poststructuralism can not be simply reduced to a set of shared assumptions, a
method, a theory, or even a school. It is best referred to as a movement of
thought -- a complex skein of thought -- embodying different forms of critical
practice. It is decidedly interdisciplinary and has many different but related
strands.
Post-Structuralism
Structuralism
in the 60s was at least in part an intellectual programme, and it was possible
to analyse phenomena by treating them as being parts of a system.
The scientific
ambitions of structuralism that took place after 1968, issued in a new critical
pluralism that decentred the institution and force of the master discourse of
structuralism, promoting at the same time an emphasis on the plurality of
interpretation through the concepts of play, indeterminacy, and
différance.
While
poststructuralism experimented further with the decentring of the subject and,
like structuralism, rejected representationalism, it also moved decisively away
from all forms of foundationalism . We might say also that 'poststructuralism'
as a movement is in its third or fourth generation.
Post-structuralism
moved beyond this, questioning the very notions of Truth, Reality, Meaning,
Sincerity, Good etc. It regarded all absolutes as
constructions, truth was created, it was an effect, it wasn’t present ‘in’
something. Similarly there was no authority, no Real, everything was defined in
terms of everything else, and that process itself was relative and
constructed.
The main
philosopher for the poststructuralists was the nineteenth century philosopher
Friedrich Nietzsche, whose main thought began with the realisation that if God
is dead, anything is possible – everything is permitted, everything is
relative.
The Origins of Postmodernism
As this
movement was growing in popularity in the 70s some other important things were
happening. The radical political groups from the 60s (for example the Maoists)
were coming to an ideological dead-end. The importance of the media as an agent
for social change was being realised and media saturation of life was becoming
an important cultural phenomenon.
Firstly, there
was a large backlash against Marxism and socialism. It was argued that Marxism
was a ‘totalizing’ system, whose intellectual totalitarianism moved necessarily
to the Gulag, and instead liberalism and capitalism were embraced as being more
open and relative.
Secondly there
was a move of intellectuals away from political engagement and back
to ‘intellectual’ work.
Finally there
was great interest in the role of the media in defining reality for us, and an
analysis of society as fragmentary, full of images, saturated by the media,
making everything relative, ephemeral and short-lived: in other words,
postmodern.
Criticism and Evaluation
People are now
criticising post-structuralism and deconstruction as providing philosophical
justification for conservatism, and encouraging an irresponsible,
hedonistic
"Modernism",
in the first sense of referring to developments in the arts from the end of the
nineteenth-century, is typically used to characterize the method, style, or
attitude of modern artists, and, in particular, a style in which the artist
deliberately breaks away from classical and traditional methods of expression
based on assumptions of realism and naturalism. One author describes modernism
in the following terms:
modernism in
art, literature, and philosophy involved novelty, break with tradition,
progress, continuous development, knowledge derived from either the position of
the subject or from claims to objectivity ... involved a shift ... to the
stream of consciousness, lived and internal time-consciousness, transcendental
subjectivity, narrated remembrance and awareness.
Postmodernism,
thus, has also two general meanings related to the senses of the term
modernism: it can be used, aesthetically, to refer specifically to developments
in the arts subsequent to or in reaction to modernism; or, in a historical and
philosophical sense, to refer to a period -- "postmodernity" -- or
ethos.
Postmodernism
can be recognized by two key assumptions.
First,
the assumption that there is no common denominator -- in "nature" or
"truth" or "God" or "the future" -- that
guarantees either the One-ness of the world or the possibility of natural or
objective thought.
Second, the
assumption that all human systems operate like language, being self-reflexive
rather than referential systems -- systems of differential function which are
powerful but finite, and which construct and maintain meaning and value .
Post-Structuralism Theory- Memento
Memento is a mystery-psychological thriller utilizing
neo-noir genre released on 2000, casting Guy Pearce as Leonard Shelby,
suffering from anterograde amnesia incapable of stocking fresh uncensored
reminiscences, who reinforced a method of anamnesis through scribbled notes,
tattoos and Polaroid pictures. Joe Pantoliano acts as Teddy, Jorja Fox as wife
of Leonard, Carrie-Anne Moss as Natalie, etc. In the film, Leonard murdered
Teddy, conveying the man-slaughtering were paybacks for sexual assault homicide
of his wife sworn by bartender Natalie. Plot showcased various successions.
With Polaroid image of a dead man switching before it was developed prior
when the man’s head was hit by a bullet. A black and white series with Leonard
in motel room conversing with unknown caller. The colored timeline in reverse
run, of Leonard with tattoo, and, black and white order, in reverse again. This
movie goes round-about a revenge and a Polaroid photograph, directed by
Christopher Nolan.
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