- "Post-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that are posited by structuralism and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of power."
A theoretical approach that critiques and challenges the assumptions of structuralism, including the idea of fixed or stable meaning, and emphasizes the contingency, instability, and plurality of meaning.
Structuralism: The foundational theory that Post-structuralism emerged from. Structuralism focuses on the structures that underpin language, culture, and social systems.
Signifier and signified: This examines the relationship between the word and the concept it represents.
Binary oppositions: Structuralism posits that binary oppositions (ex: male/female) structure an entire system of meaning. Post-structuralism questions the fixity and correctness of binary oppositions.
Deconstruction: This is the central idea of Post-structuralism. Deconstruction seeks to examine and destabilize the meaning that language and texts construct.
Jacques Derrida: The French philosopher who is considered the father of Deconstruction. His work forms the theoretical backbone of Post-structuralism.
Logocentrism: The idea that an author is able to convey one true meaning through language. Post-structuralism challenges this, arguing that meaning is always fluid and subject to interpretation.
Différance: Derrida's term for the way meaning is both created through difference and deferred because of the slippage and play between signifiers.
Intertextuality: The idea that all texts are connected and that meaning is created through the connections between them.
Power and discourse: Post-structuralism emphasizes the way power and discourse are intertwined. Discourses reinforce power relations, but power can also be subverted through deconstruction.
Feminism and Post-structuralism: A parallel movement in feminist theory, where Post-structuralism's questioning of stable meaning informs feminist critiques of gender and power.
French Post-Structuralism: This refers to the work of French philosophers such as Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, and Jean-Francois Lyotard, who were prominent in the 1960s and 1970s. These thinkers were interested in breaking down traditional oppositions and binaries, such as subject/object, inside/outside, and presence/absence. They also emphasized the role of power relations in shaping social structures and identities.
Deconstruction: This is a particular method or approach associated with Derrida, aimed at analyzing and destabilizing the underlying assumptions and hierarchies of language and texts. Deconstruction involves identifying the ways in which a text or discourse privileges certain meanings or concepts over others, and revealing the hidden contradictions and aporias that this creates.
Postmodernism: This is a broader cultural and intellectual movement that encompasses post-structuralism, nihilism, and other related philosophies. Postmodernism is characterized by a rejection of grand narratives and universal truths, and a focus on the diversity and plurality of human experiences.
Feminist Post-Structuralism: This is an area of post-structuralist thought that focuses on gender and sexuality, and the ways in which these categories are constructed and enforced through language and social norms. Feminist post-structuralists such as Judith Butler and Luce Irigaray have argued for a radical reconceptualization of gender and sexuality, challenging traditional biological and psychological models.
Postcolonialism: This is a field that emerged in the wake of decolonization, and focuses on the ways in which Western imperialism and colonialism continue to shape global inequalities and intercultural relationships. Postcolonial theorists such as Edward Said and Homi Bhabha have drawn on post-structuralist concepts such as hybridity and ambivalence to analyze the complex dynamics of cultural encounter and conflict.
Queer Theory: Queer theory is a field of inquiry that seeks to queer or disrupt heteronormative assumptions and categories. This approach is rooted in post-structuralist thought and has been influenced by feminist and postcolonial theory as well. Queer theorists such as Eve Sedgwick and Judith Butler have analyzed the ways in which sexuality is socially constructed and used to maintain power relations, and have argued for a more fluid and flexible conception of identity and desire.
- "Common themes among them include the rejection of the self-sufficiency of structuralism, as well as an interrogation of the binary oppositions that constitute its structures."
- "Post-structuralism discards the idea of interpreting media (or the world) within pre-established, socially constructed structures."
- "Structuralism proposes that human culture can be understood by means of a structure that is modeled on language."
- "A 'third order' mediates between the concrete reality on the one hand, and the abstract ideas about reality on the other hand."
- "A post-structuralist critique might suggest that in order to build meaning out of such an interpretation, one must (falsely) assume that the definitions of these signs are both valid and fixed."
- "The author employing structuralist theory is somehow above and apart from these structures they are describing so as to be able to wholly appreciate them."
- "The rigidity and tendency to categorize intimations of universal truths found in structuralist thinking."
- "Post-structuralist thought also builds upon structuralist conceptions of reality mediated by the interrelationship between signs."
- "Writers whose works are often characterized as post-structuralist include Roland Barthes, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault, Gilles Deleuze, and Jean Baudrillard."
- "Many theorists who have been called 'post-structuralist' have rejected the label."