In modern cultural studies, structuralism occupies a special place . This is due to the need to develop new research methods based solely on scientific concepts. A significant influence on the formation of the discipline was provided by mathematics, cybernetics, semiotics. Consider the basic ideas of structuralism .
Key principles
Structuralism is a methodological direction in the study of socio-cultural phenomena. It is based on the following principles:
- The process is considered as a holistic, multi-level education.
- The study of the phenomenon is carried out taking into account the variability - within the framework of a particular culture or a larger space in which it changes.
The final result is the modeling of the "structure", the establishment of the hidden logic of the formation of cultural integrity.
Features
Structuralism is a method used to study the forms in which the cultural activity of people is expressed. They are universal human universals, adopted social laws, and intellectual work schemes. These forms are denoted by the concept of structure. It, in turn, is interpreted as a complex of relations that maintain their stability over a long historical period or in different parts of the world. These fundamental structures function as unconscious mechanisms that regulate the entire spiritual and creative activity of man.
Discipline
Researchers identify several stages that structuralism has gone through in its development . This is :
- 20-50s 20th century. At this stage, a lot of research was carried out, attempts were made to prove that the whole phenomenon is stable and exists regardless of chance.
- 50-60s 20th century The key concepts at this stage are explored and conceptualized by the French liberal arts school. Methods of objective cognition of unconscious models of relations in different areas of socio-cultural reality begin to be consistently developed. It was at this stage that the key task of the discipline was formulated. It consisted in the study of culture as an all-encompassing semiotic structure functioning to ensure the communication of people. The study was focused on the fact that, abstracting from the specifics of ethnic and historical forms, to identify a common, defining essence of the culture of all peoples at all times.
- At the third stage, the worldview and methodological problems that researchers encountered in the previous stages were overcome. The consistent solution of the tasks leads to the almost complete displacement of impersonal systems of man from the sphere of study.
The main representatives of structuralism are J. Lacan, R. Bart, M. Foucault, J. Deleuze, J. Bodillard, etc.
Problems and Tasks
"A man dies, the structure remains" - a thought that has generated a lot of controversy. In 1968, a wave of unrest swept through France. Students, young intellectuals, proclaimed the slogan: "It’s not the structures that take to the streets, but the living people!" The answer was given by Michel Foucault. In an effort to realize goals that were not achieved by the classical concept, he highlights the task of studying the "lustful man." So Foucault showed that structuralism in philosophy is a flexible method that can adapt to conditions. At the same time, several new problems were put forward. They consisted of:
- Understanding all non-structural within the framework of the structure.
- Identification of contradictions that arise when trying to study a person only through language systems.
In addition, the tasks were formulated:
- Overcome the linguistic reductionism and nonhistorism of classical structuralism.
- To build new models of meaning formation.
- Explain the practice of open reading of cultural texts that overcomes analytical and hermeneutic models of interpretation.
Claude Levy-Strauss
He was a French ethnographer, culturologist, social scientist. This person is considered the founder of structuralism. The scientist recognized the significant similarity of human values ​​in different civilizations. In his works, he emphasized that identity should be determined by the presence in a particular culture of a specific method for their implementation. Levy-Strauss said that no civilization can claim a dominant role, that it maximally expresses, embodies world civilization.
Influence on the development of thought
During ethnographic expeditions, Levy-Strauss collects huge material and tries to interpret it in a new way. The scientist relies on the concepts of functionalism of Radcliffe-Brown and Malinowski. They base their thoughts on the fact that nothing happens by chance in culture. Everything that seems so should subsequently and can be understood as an expression of its deepest laws and functions. It was this thought that became the foundation on which structuralism began to build .
Psychology and many other disciplines have also begun to change. One of the leading thinkers was F. de Saussure. Meetings with him seriously affected Levi-Strauss. All these prerequisites provided a new view on the question of the so-called "primitive" cultures. Levy-Strauss set the most important task. He strove to prove that culture as a subjective reality, which was extolled, but not interpreted by existentialists, can and should be studied objectively, scientifically.
False promises
If we talk about cultural studies, then Levi-Strauss can not be called an evolutionist. In his works, various misconceptions are criticized. One of them, he considers the so-called "false evolutionism." In the framework of this method, different, simultaneously existing states of societies are considered as different stages of one development process, striving for a common goal. As a typical example of such a message, the scientist considers a direct comparison of the unwritten tribes of the natives of the 20th century. and archaic forms of European civilizations, although "primitive communities" go a long way, and therefore cannot be regarded as either the primitive or the "childish" state of mankind. The fundamental difference between them and technologically advanced civilizations is not that they have no development, but that their evolution is focused on preserving the original methods of establishing a relationship with nature.
conclusions
As Levy-Strauss notes, following a strategy of intercultural interaction, following false messages leads to the planting, often violent, of a “Western pattern” of life. As a result, centuries-old traditions existing among primitive peoples are destroyed. Progress cannot be likened to a one-way rise. It goes in various directions, which are incommensurable only with technological advances. An example of this is the East. In the field of the study of the human body, he is ahead of the West by several millennia.
If we consider culture as a colossal semiotic system, formed in order to ensure the effectiveness of human communication, the whole existing world is presented as a huge number of texts. They can be a variety of sequences of actions, rules, relationships, forms, customs, and so on. Structuralism in philosophy is a way to penetrate into the field of objective laws located at a level not realized by the person who creates the culture and exists in it and at the expense of it.
The concept of the unconscious
It occupies a special place in the teaching. Levy-Strauss considers the unconscious as a hidden mechanism of sign systems. He explains this as follows. On a conscious level, the individual uses signs. He builds phrases and texts from them. However, a person does this according to special rules. They are worked out spontaneously and collectively; many do not even suspect them. These rules are elements of the language system.
Similarly, components form all spheres of the community’s spiritual life. Structuralism in sociology , therefore, is based on the concept of the collective unconscious. Jung calls archetypes as primary foundations. Structuralism in the psychology of the development of society considers symbolic systems. All cultural spheres - mythology, religion, language, literature, customs, art, traditions and so on - can be considered as such models.
"Savage" thinking
By analyzing it, Levy-Strauss answers the question posed by Levy-Bruhl. Studying totemic classifications, the most rationalized cataloging of natural phenomena by the native’s thinking, the scientist shows that there is no less logic in it than in the consciousness of a modern European.
The key task in the study is the search for a mechanism for the formation of meaning. Levy-Strauss suggests that it is created through binary oppositions: animal-vegetable, boiled-raw, female-male, culture-nature and so on. As a result of mutual substitution, permutations, exceptions, etc., they form the sphere of present meaning. This is the level of "rules by which rules apply." A person usually does not realize them, despite the fact that he puts them into practice. They are not on the surface, but form the basis of the mental cultural "background."
Binary oppositions
They were first introduced by Roman Jacobson. This scientist had a huge impact on the emergence of the humanities with his innovative thoughts and active organizational work.
He belongs to fundamental works on general linguistic theory, morphology, phonology, Slavic studies, semiotics, grammar, Russian literature and other fields. As part of his research, Roman Jacobson derived 12 binary traits that form phonological oppositions. According to the scientist, they act as language universals, on which any language is based. So structuralism in linguistics was born. The method of the scientist was actively used in the analysis of myths.
Super rationalism
Levy-Strauss sought to find a common foundation for all cultures of all time. In the course of research, he formulates the idea of ​​suprarationalism. The scientist sees his realization in the harmony of rational and sensory principles, which is lost by modern European civilization. But it can be found at the level of mythological primitive thinking.
To explain this condition, the scientist introduces the term "bricolage". This concept describes a situation in which, when encoding a logical-conceptual meaning in the framework of primitive thinking, sensory images are used that are not specially adapted for this. This happens in the same way that a home master uses improvised materials when creating his crafts that happened to be with him accidentally. The coding of abstract concepts occurs with the help of different sets of sensory qualities, forming systems of interchangeable codes.
Yuri Lotman expressed similar thoughts in his works. He was one of the creators of the semiotic method of studying culture and literature in Soviet times. Yuri Lotman is the founder of the Tartu-Moscow school. The scientist considers issues of art and culture as "secondary systems." The primary model is language. Lotman sees the function of art and culture in the fight against entropy and the storage of information, communication between people. At the same time, art acts as a part of culture along with science.
Human
Levy-Strauss considers the individual as a complex of internal and external. The latter is formed from the characters that a person uses. The inner constitutes the unconscious mind system. It remains unchanged, unlike the external. As a result, their structural connection is broken. Based on this, the drama of modern cultural life is the problem of man himself. The modern individual needs "repair." To conduct it, it is necessary to return to the primitive experience, to restore the unity and integrity of the "savage". In solving this problem, the most important role belongs to anthropology.
Set of holistic approaches
It is used in many concepts. Holism can be ontological. In this case, the supremacy of integrity over individual components is affirmed. Holistic approaches can be methodological in nature. In this case, individual phenomena are explained in connection with integrity. In a general sense, holism is an attitude to account for all aspects of the phenomenon being studied. It involves a critical attitude to any one-sided method. Actually, this is what the followers of structuralism proclaimed.
Conclusion
The results, which were obtained by Levi-Strauss, are widely recognized in the world. At the same time, they gave rise to many discussions. The main thing in the study is that these results showed with scientific accuracy that culture is a superstructure over nature. It has a multi-level, "multi-storey" character. Culture is a complex mechanism of many semiotic systems used in the regulation of human relationships, which can be predicted and calculated with mathematical precision. These verbal models are the base. On the basis of them, the communication of people is regulated as a continuous chain of messages that make up cultural texts.