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Ronald Schleifer
Gabriel RuppStructuralism
TOPLacan's structuralist leanings are evident in the thesis that language is a complex network of signifiers, each of which draws meaning in part from the distinctions and similarities it marks (de Saussure, 1983). The resulting holistic view of meaning implies that the signification linked to a symbol or word arises from the individual's immersion into language and reflects a complex of relations between signifiers. For instance, the idea of a wolf is partly defined by its relationships and contrasts with the signification of "dog." Each individual is shaped by the significations that a linguistic group uses to classify or order the world into significant types of thing so as to create an enveloping, contextual, and almost infinitely complex discursive setting for the individual's existence; a setting that configures his or her psyche.BibliographyThe medium through which language forms and continually transforms the psyche is sociocultural, in particular those relationships in which we are introduced to language. These are relationships of close kinship so that primary group relationships are fundamental in understanding the development of mind and personality. For Lacan (1994/1997), and Levi-Strauss (his anthropological mentor [1978]), the structure and rituals of kinship play an important part in this development so that the psyche, particularly those aspects of it significantly formed before the development of self-critical and reflective awareness, is a palimpsest of significations whose contributory texts are linguistic, relational, and colored by personal interactions. The network of signifiers realized in the individual psyche is therefore a coproduct of the individual's immersion in two worlds—a causal world and a world of meaning—that are intertwined at every point because the brain (the biological repository of experience) responds, on the one hand, to the interpersonal and cultural world of meaning and, on the other, to the impingement of the environment on the organism.==more==
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At the end of the twentieth century, structuralism, particularly those strands of thought called "poststructural" and "postmodern," continued to mark discourse in a variety of fields, from literature to the social sciences. Within the frameworks of the four assumptions, John Parker’s Structuration, for example, tracks the twin histories of structuralism and poststructuralism, elaborating on the assumption of systematicity. Similarly, François Dosse’s Histoire du structuralisme,vol. 1 (1991, History of Structuralism: The Rising Sign, 1945–1966, 1997), provides an elegant version of the role of synchronics in linguistics. Christopher Tilley’s Reading Material Culture also elaborates on contemporary applications of structuralism, providing particularly insightful analyses of the role of arbitrariness of the sign in relation to material culture. Finally, Chris Weedon’s Feminist Practice and Poststructural Theory offers a nuanced examination of the fourth assumption, the social nature of the sign, especially in terms of gender roles and subjectivity in predominantly patriarchal societies.
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See also french theory and criticism: 5. 1945 to 1968, roman jakobson, claude lévi-strauss, narratology, russian formalism, ferdinand de saussure, and semiotics.
