structuralism and post-structuralism
In: 5
Structuralism is the assumption that, besides surface-level variation, there are structural forces that organize things – which things depends on the focus of the author, be it society, psychology or language. We can think of how besides having different grammar and words, both English and Chinese have structurally similar classes of words, like substantives, adjectives, etc. The level of abstraction is generally deeper than that, but it’s an easier way to understand it.
Post-structuralism is a less rigorously defined school of thought and can mean many things. The most important might be that, albeit they recognize that there are some structuring forces in society, they are contingent, not necessary, and thus capable of being criticized and changed. Think of the relationship between genres, it’s something that definitely exists and is somewhat structural, but it’s also definitely not something writing in our genes and determined by god.
I maybe gave an ELI15 but idk if five year olds are that interested in epistemology lmao.
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