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STRUCTURALISM

Struralism holds that meaning is produced by the structuring of units wtihin systems. For example, language is a system, and is analyzed for its semiotic components. Keywords for structuralism are wign and signifier. Another key concept for structuralists is to set up binary oppositions as a means to examine a text, but so do post-structuralists and deconstructionists.

Major Critics: Ferdinand de Saussure, Roland Barthes, Levi-Strauss

©2001 Andy Lein and Melissa Vene. Last Updated: December 2001

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