Structuralism: what is it and what are its key ideas

Structuralism is a theoretical movement that started in France in the mid-1960s, especially in the area of ​​human and social sciences. The works that are grouped under the name of "Structuralism" are characterized by considering that language has a key function in the development of human activity and its functions.

This movement has had important theoretical and practical repercussions in disciplines such as linguistics, sociology, anthropology and philosophy. Next we will review the main ideas of Structuralism and how it has impacted the social sciences.

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What is Structuralism?

Structuralism is a theoretical and methodological approach that states that in every sociocultural system there is a series of structures (forms of organization) that condition or determine everything that happens within said system.

Thus, what Structuralism specifically studies are these structures, however, from this it becomes inevitable to analyze the connection between them, that is, the

how they shape different sociocultural systems and human activity.

Language as structure

Although Structuralism is a movement that has a more or less specific history, the term "structuralist" can be applied to any analysis that emphasizes the underlying structures of a phenomenon, and their relations. That is, it can be considered as structuralist any school of social science that prioritizes order rather than action (Theodore 2018).

Although many of his contributions are quite complex, we can summarize three ideas that help us understand some key approaches to applied Structuralism in the social sciences.

1. Every system is made up of structures

A structure is a way of organizing the parts of a whole, including the set of its relationships. For Structuralism, these ways of organizing (structures) are what makes sense in human, social and cultural activity; with which, its properties are fundamentally linguistic.

In other words, structures are the set of symbols through which we create meaning. They are the set of signifiers with which we interpret the world and relate to it.

Hence, for Structuralism, all reality has a symbolic nature, that is, is determined by language understood as an "order of the symbolic". It defends that different cultures, behaviors, myths and linguistic schemes that characterize them reveal patterns common to human life.

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2. This structure determines the position that each element occupies

From the previous point, the idea is derived that all human activity, as well as its functions (including cognition, behavior and culture itself), are constructions, since are mediated by the symbols. That is, they are not natural elements, and what is more: they do not have meanings by themselves, but only make sense within the language system where they are found.

In other words, instead of us speaking a language, it is the language that speaks to us (it determines how we will understand and act in the world). For this reason, Structuralism is related in an important way with semiotics (the study of signs, symbols, communication and the creation of meaning).

3. Structures are what lies beneath the apparent

If through social science research we understand structures, then we will also understand why or how a certain human and sociocultural activity occurs.

That is to say, Structuralism as an interpretive method it tries to pay attention to the internal structures of cultural elements, or rather, try to understand the structures that define or make possible the existence of these elements.

Society and culture are not simply a set of physical elements, and neither are they events with their own meaning, but rather they are elements that acquire significance.

So it is the process of acquiring meaning that we must understand when doing social science research. Thus, Structuralism marks an important methodological distinction between the natural sciences and the human and social sciences.

The latter even moved towards the understanding of individual experience. For this reason, structuralism was also positioned as a reaction to phenomenology, since it considers that deep experiences are nothing more than an effect of structures that are not themselves experiential.

Some key authors

One of the most important antecedents for the development of Structuralism is Ferdinand de Saussure, father of semioticsSince, as we have seen, Structuralism takes up much of its postulates to understand human activity.

However, recent pioneers of Structuralism are considered the works of the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, the psychologist Jean piaget, the linguist philosopher Noam chomsky, the linguist Roman Jakobson, the Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser, the literary Roland Barthes among others.

More recently, and in a fine line between structuralism and poststructuralism, and even after having denied its ascription to these movements, the philosophers Michel Foucault and Jacques Derrida stand out, as well as the psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan.

Reductionist bias and other criticisms

Structuralism has been criticized because when considering that structures are what determine human life, it frequently neglects autonomy and the possibility of individual agency. In other words, it can fall into reductionist and deterministic positions on human activity or experience.

Related to the above, the Argentine epistemologist Mario Bunge says that structures are themselves sets of relationshipsThey do not exist without this, with which they cannot be studied as elements in themselves.

As they are properties of objects, structures always belong to a system and cannot be studied separately from that system or the individual, as an entity with its own existence.

Bibliographic references:

• Culler, J. (2018). Structuralism. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Thematic. DOI 0.4324 / 9780415249126-N055-1.
• Theodore, S. (2018). Structuralism in social science. Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Thematic. DOI 10.4324 / 9780415249126-R036-1.
• The Basics of Philosophy. (2008-2018). Structuralism. The Basics of Philosophy. Retrieved May 11. Available in https://www.philosophybasics.com/movements_structuralism.html.
• Anda, C. (2004) Introduction to the social sciences. Limusa: Mexico.
• Bunge, M. (1996). Look for philosophy in the social sciences. XXI century: Argentina.