Chapter 6 – Structuralism and post-structuralism

Before you read

Warm-up

We recommend this footage on Structuralism [link] to help you get a grip on what is being discussed in Chapter 6. While watching it, think how Structuralism is outlined there, especially in relation to cultural practice (if at all).

Preliminary questions

Chapter 3 established the importance of Culturalism in the study of Popular Culture. Two key figures, Hoggart and Williams, were seen to move Cultural Studies away from a Leavisite perspective. By the time Structuralists enter the frame, seeking to move Cultural Studies in quite another direction, Popular Culture as a worthwhile object of study had already been recognized. In focusing on signs, signifiers, referents, power and discourses, these theorists – and the Post-structuralists who came after – complicate meaning even further, seeing Culture and Popular Culture in terms of a system of signs.

What do you think a sign may stand for in relation to culture, representation and meaning formation? (If possible, write down your ideas or discuss them with fellow students for further consideration).

After you read: Important ideas

Important ideas: Chapter 6 explains two key notions for cultural criticism (and understanding culture is general): that of Structuralism and Post-Structuralism. Those notions map out specific approaches to culture and signification i.e. how meaning is being formed in a cultural context. Going through the following quizzes, test your understanding of this formation in relation to specific thinkers and ideas.

Quiz 6.1

Choose one answer

1. 

From whose work did Structuralism as a theory of signs emerge?

Terry Eagleton

Ferdinand de Saussure

Clause Lévi-Strauss

None

2. 

The sign is divided into two component parts: signifier and

signification

significant

signified

None

3. 

The signifier refers to a

word-sound

concept

material object

None

4. 

The relationship between the signifier and the signified is said to be

arbitrary

compulsory

essential

None

5. 

In Saussure's theory of the sign, meaning is the result of a process of selection and

exclusion

combination

deselection

None

6. 

The term used to describe what the sign points to is referred to as

the symbolic

the referent

the semiotic

None

7. 

In Structuralism, the ways in which we conceptualise the world is dependent on

nature

language

psychology

None

8. 

The diachronic approach to language stresses historical change in language and culture. Which approach examines language at a given moment in time?

synchronic

semiotic

symbolic

None

9. 

Langue refers to which aspect of language?

playfulness

meaning

the system of rules and conventions

None

10. 

Parole' refers to which other aspect of language?

individual utterance

rules

grammar

None

11. 

A key aim of Structuralism is to make explicit how a language

makes meaning possible

can mean anything

confuses meaning

None

12. 

Barthes expands earlier work by suggesting that there are ______ levels of signification.

two

three

four

None

13. 

At primary level, the signifier 'snake' produces the signified

an unpleasant human being

a legless, carnivorous reptile

the biblical snake

None

14. 

Primary signification operates at the level of

denotation

connotation

orientation

None

15. 

Secondary signification operates at the level of

denotation

connotation

orientation

None

16. 

So, a 'snake' at the secondary level could signify a legless, carnivorous reptile and

an unpleasant human being

the biblical snake

a two-legged cat

None

17. 

One of the key terms in Barthes's early work is

myths

confabulations

legends

None

18. 

Myths are effective because of the connotative nature of signs. Thus, signs and myths are powerful and political because meanings are

restricted

polysemic

semiotic

None

19. 

For Barthes, myths are inseparable from

ideology

heroic stories

fairy tales

None

20. 

Myths can make history seem

untrue

natural

restricted

None

21. 

Reading myths closely depends on

cultural context

IQ level

level of mindfulness

None

Time’s up

Quiz 6.2

How would you refer to the following statements (Choose between true or false)

1. 

In the work of Derrida, the meaning of signs is never fully present or absent.

True

False

None

2. 

If we look up the meaning of the signifier 'letter', there is more than one signified

True

False

None

3. 

The signifier always and reliably fixes and stabilises meaning.

True

False

None

4. 

The written, linguistic context of the word/utterance fixes the meaning.

True

False

None

5. 

Derrida proposes that the meaning of signs is always deferred – pointing in all sorts of directions.

True

False

None

6. 

In Derrida's work, at least speech rather than writing is able to fix the meaning of the sign.

True

False

None

7. 

Binary oppositions are never simply opposites in equal partnership with each other. One term circulates in privileged, and often violent, ways.

True

False

None

8. 

A deconstructive reading aims to expose how meanings are often taken for granted, examining the spaces between two apparently opposing terms.

True

False

None

9. 

A deconstructive reading does not set out to subvert hierarchies. Deconstruction sets out to question the privilege accorded to binaries in the first place.

True

False

None

10. 

Derrida says that signs are meaningless.

True

False

None

11. 

Deconstruction investigates how signs are made to mean in the first instance.

True

False

None

12. 

For Foucault, there are timeless truths which guide us in good culture.

True

False

None

13. 

Power operates through discourse.

True

False

None

14. 

There is no connection between power and knowledge.

True

False

None

15. 

Where there is power, it is impossible to find resistance.

True

False

None

16. 

Power does not produce reality.

True

False

None

17. 

In Foucault's work, sexuality is literally written on the body.

True

False

None

18. 

Sexuality points to discourses about medicine, psychology and criminology.

True

False

None

19. 

Foucault says we are all sexually repressed.

True

False

None

20. 

The panopticon evidences a shift from punishment to surveillance as a form of social control.

True

False

None

21. 

One effect of the 'panopticon' is self-surveillance.

True

False

None

22. 

Surveillance and self-surveillance have been exploited in contemporary popular culture texts.

True

False

None

23. 

As viewers of popular culture, we are safely outside the panoptic machine.

True

False

None

Time’s up

Important names

Chapter 6 mentions important structuralists and post-structuralist. See who they were with regard to their prominent ideas and their work.

Ferdinandde Saussure

Rosalind Coward

Jacques Derrida

Claude Levi-Strauss

Michel Foucault

Jacques Lacan

Complementary materials

Here is a Yale lecture on Semiotics and Structuralism by Prof. Paul H. Fry [link]. It may help you approach your further considerations.

Further considerations

Structuralist methods have had a profound impact on how Cultural Studies is thought about and practised. For example, the work of Saussure was taken up by two key figures that set about expanding and developing his Structuralist methodology. Claude Lévi-Strauss worked within the field of anthropology, examining the importance of myths. Will Wright, applying the work of Saussure and Lévi-Strauss to Western film, demonstrated how structuralist methods can be used to explain how we read such texts.

In thinking about how Lévi-Strauss claimed that myths are often structured around binary oppositions – for example, culture/nature; man/woman; good/bad; us/them – try the following exercise.

Analyse a number of adverts from television, magazines and newspapers, leaflets and promotional material (you can use online versions of these if you wish). Select your chosen text and work through these:

• Identify the theme/product/aim of the advert
• Begin to observe the ways in which the advert relies on binary opposites to construct meaning
• List some of the ways in which these binary opposites constrain or enable how meaning is produced

You could also explore the above scenario in relation to the cultural texts and practices around political broadcasts or national events and religious celebrations such as Mawlid-al-Nabi, Christmas, Vikram Samvat, Easter and Rosh Hashanah.

Using a Structuralist approach, try analysing recently released films that draw on the Western genre. You may like to consider, for instance, True Grit (2010); Cowboys and Aliens (2011) and Django Unchained (2012). How are the meanings of these films specifically accounted for by Structuralism? Following this, you may like to undertake a Structuralist analysis of other film genres such as romance, horror or comedy.

The Post-structuralism of both Derrida and Lacan has often been viewed as obscure, difficult and over-complicated. However, as John Storey makes clear, both theorists can be used to explain how we might read cultural texts and practices. A key concept used by Lacan and Derrida is that of ‘the subject’ – a central tenet of Post-structuralist thinking with regards to how individual identity is constructed through discourse.

You might like to think of the markers, signs and texts which come to stand for your own identity.

If you use Facebook, how do you construct your subjectivity? What markers in the photographs and texts you post make up who you are? Is this different for different audiences? (Do you use privacy controls to manipulate the identity seen by different people?) Has your ‘self’ changed over the years or is it fixed and permanent? How do others think of your identity?

You might now like to try and theorize your discussion of these questions with reference to Foucault’s ideas about the panopticon and surveillance.