Structuralism Structuralism is a mode of thinking and a method of analysis practiced in 20th-century social sciences and humanities. Methodologically, it analyses large-scale systems by examining the relations and functions of the smallest constituent elements of such systems, which range from human languages and cultural practices to folktales and literary texts. In the field of linguistics the structuralist work of Ferdinand de Saussure, undertaken just prior to World War I, long served as model and inspiration. Characteristic of structuralist thinking, Saussure's linguistic inquiry was centred not on speech itself but on the underlying rules and conventions enabling language to operate. In analysing the social or collective dimension of language rather than individual speech, he pioneered and promoted study of grammar rather than usage, rules rather than expressions, models rather than data, langue (language) rather than parole (speech). Saussure was interested in the infrastructure of language that is common to all speakers and that functions on an unconscious level. His inquiry was concerned with deep structures rather than surface phenomena and made no reference to historical evolution. (In structuralist terminology, it was synchronic, existing now, rather than diachronic, existing and changing over time.) In the domain of anthropology and myth studies, the work done in the immediate post- World War II period by Claude Levi-Strauss introduced structuralist principles to a wide audience. Following the ideas of Saussure and of the Slavic linguists N. S. Trubetzkoy and Roman Jakobson, Levi-Strauss specified four procedures basic to structuralism. First, structural analysis examines unconscious infrastructures of cultural phenomena; second, it regards the elements of infrastructures as "relational," not as independent entities; third, it attends single-mindedly to system; and fourth, it propounds general laws accounting for the underlying organizing patterns of phenomena. In humanistic and literary studies, structuralism is applied most effectively in the field of "narratology." This nascent discipline studies all narratives, whether or not they use language: myths and legends, novels and news accounts, histories, relief sculptures and stained-glass windows, pantomimes and psychological case studies. Using structuralist methods and principles, narratologists analyse the systematic features and functions of narratives, attempting to isolate a finite set of rules to account for the infinite set of real
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Structuralism
Structuralism is a mode of thinking and a method of analysis practiced in 20th-century
social sciences and humanities. Methodologically, it analyses large-scale systems by
examining the relations and functions of the smallest constituent elements of such
systems, which range from human languages and cultural practices to folktales and
literary texts.
In the field of linguistics the structuralist work of Ferdinand de Saussure, undertaken just
prior to World War I, long served as model and inspiration. Characteristic of structuralist
thinking, Saussure's linguistic inquiry was centred not on speech itself but on the
underlying rules and conventions enabling language to operate. In analysing the social or
collective dimension of language rather than individual speech, he pioneered and
promoted study of grammar rather than usage, rules rather than expressions, models
rather than data, langue (language) rather than parole (speech). Saussure was
interested in the infrastructure of language that is common to all speakers and that
functions on an unconscious level. His inquiry was concerned with deep structures
rather than surface phenomena and made no reference to historical evolution. (In
structuralist terminology, it was synchronic, existing now, rather than diachronic, existing
and changing over time.)
In the domain of anthropology and myth studies, the work done in the immediate post-
World War II period by Claude Levi-Strauss introduced structuralist principles to a wide
audience. Following the ideas of Saussure and of the Slavic linguists N. S. Trubetzkoy
and Roman Jakobson, Levi-Strauss specified four procedures basic to structuralism.
First, structural analysis examines unconscious infrastructures of cultural phenomena;
second, it regards the elements of infrastructures as "relational," not as independent
entities; third, it attends single-mindedly to system; and fourth, it propounds general laws
accounting for the underlying organizing patterns of phenomena.
In humanistic and literary studies, structuralism is applied most effectively in the field of
"narratology." This nascent discipline studies all narratives, whether or not they use
language: myths and legends, novels and news accounts, histories, relief sculptures and
stained-glass windows, pantomimes and psychological case studies. Using structuralist
methods and principles, narratologists analyse the systematic features and functions of
narratives, attempting to isolate a finite set of rules to account for the infinite set of real
and possible narratives. Starting in the 1960s, the French critic Roland Barthes and
several other French narratologists popularized the field, which has since become an
important method of analysis in the United States as well.
Because structuralism values deep structures over surface phenomena, it parallels, in
part, the views of Marx and Freud, both of whom were concerned with underlying
causes, unconscious motivations, and trans-personal forces, shifting attention away
from individual human consciousness and choice. Like Marxism and Freudianism,
therefore, structuralism furthers the ongoing modern diminution of the individual,
portraying the self largely as a construct and consequence of impersonal systems.
Individuals neither originate nor control the codes and conventions of their social
existence, mental life, or linguistic experience. As a result of its demotion of the person,
or subject, structuralism is widely regarded as "anti-humanistic."
Saussure envisaged a new discipline, a science of signs and sign systems that he
named semiology, and for which he believed structural linguistics could provide a
principal methodology. The American philosopher Charles Sanders Peirce, Saussure's
contemporary, sketched a similar science labeled semiotic. In 1961, Levi-Strauss situated
structural anthropology within the domain of "semiology." Increasingly, the terms
Semiology and Semiotics came to designate a field of study that analyses sign systems,
codes, and conventions of all kinds, from human to animal and sign languages, from the
jargon of fashion to the lexicon of food, from the rules of folk narrative to those of
phonological systems, from codes of architecture and medicine to the conventions of
myth and literature. Since the 1960’s the term semiotics has gradually replaced
structuralism, and the formation of the International Association for Semiotic Studies in the
1960s has solidified the trend.
As structuralist methodology expanded into the discipline of semiotics, critical reaction
occurred, particularly in France, leading to, for example Gilles Deleuze's "schizoanalysis,"
Jacques Derrida's Deconstruction, Michel Foucault's "genealogy," and Julia Kristeva's
"semanalysis." These critical schools were lumped together and labelled post-
structuralism in the United States.
Structuralism in Architecture - the Structuralist Diagram
The work of De Saussure in Linguistics and Levi-Strauss in anthropology led to the idea
of the existence of ‘deep structures’ in their respective fields of study. Levi-Strauss'
studies of traditional cultures drew attention to the built form of these cultures and drew
attention to their additive nature. A limited range of related components arranged in a
limited range of variations according to a particular set of rules.
Just as there seemed to be deep structures shaping the social patterns of these cultures
there seemed to be 'deep structures' defining the organisation of their traditional built
environment. This realisation made a deep impact on important European and north
American, architects of the time and one or two of them at least began to speculate on
the possible existence of deep structures linking late twentieth century western society
and its built environment with those of 'traditional' African and Asian cultures.
Historically something like structuralist thought first appeared in architecture via the CIAM
meetings of the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. The younger generation of architects then
emerging mounted an increasingly sharp critique of the technocratic, social
unresponsiveness of the architectural modernist mainstream at successive meetings of
CIAM [Congrés Internationale d’Architecture Moderne]. The decisive split between the old-
guard and the ‘young turks’, came with CIAM 9 held at Aix-en-Provence in 1953 when the
younger generation led by Alison and Peter Smithson and Aldo van Eyck, challenged the
four Functionalist categories of the Athens Charter. Dwelling, Work, Recreation and
Transportation. Instead of proffering an alternative set of abstractions, the Smithson’s,
van Eyck, Jacob Bakema, Georges Candilis, Shadrach Woods, John Voelcker and William
and Jill Howell searched for the structural principles of urban growth and for the next
significant unit above the family cell. Their dissatisfaction with the modified functionalism
of the old guard - with the idealism of le Corbusier, van Eesteren, Sert, Ernesto Rogers,
Alfred Roth, Kunio Mayekawa and Gropius - is reflected in their critical reaction to the
CIAM 8 report. They wrote : ‘… Man may readily identify himself with his own hearth, but
not easily with the town within which it is placed. ‘Belonging’ is a basic emotional need -
its associations are of the simplest order. From ‘belonging’ - identity - comes the
enriched sense of neighborliness. The short narrow street of the slum succeeds where
spacious redevelopment frequently fails. …’ With this they established a clear position
for themselves within the field based on the re-assertion of the importance of both the
social and symbolic aspects of the built environment.
The position was based on the assertion of the importance of vernacular values and
building form to social and psychological well-being. This manifested both in the form of
Nigel Henderson’s photos of London street life [exhibited at Aix-en-Provence by the
Smithson’s] and the Moroccan housing scheme presented by Georges Candilis [based on
vernacular housing types]. At CIAM 9 the Smithson’s and John Voelcker presented
designs for a range of housing types intended to address issues of community. Candilis
presented his Algerian mass-housing scheme. These concerns struck an instant chord
with van Eyck, who in the company of wife Hannie and friends had undertaken two trips
to the Sahara and published his photographs of the vernacular settlements he