Meaning & use
structuralism
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Meanings
noununcountable
A way of studying culture, language, or society by looking for the deep patterns and relationships that lie beneath surface details.
Grammar: Uncountable: no plural; use 'a structuralist approach' for a countable phrase.
Patterns
- structuralism in something
- the structuralism of something
In the 1960s, structuralism became a popular method in French universities for analyzing myths and kinship systems.
Her book explains how structuralism influenced the study of literature by focusing on underlying codes rather than individual works.
noununcountabletechnical
A specific school of thought in linguistics that studies language as a system of signs and rules, associated with Saussure.
Grammar: Often used with 'Saussurean' or 'European' to specify the tradition.
Patterns
- Saussurean structuralism
- structuralism in linguistics
Saussurean structuralism treats language as a network of differences rather than a list of words.
Many introductory courses cover structuralism before moving on to generative grammar.
Common combinations
- structuralist approach
- The structuralist approach to folklore looks for repeated narrative patterns.
- post-structuralism
- Post-structuralism questioned the stable structures that structuralism had assumed.
- French structuralism
- French structuralism had a strong impact on anthropology and literary theory.
- structuralism and semiotics
- The course examines the relationship between structuralism and semiotics.
Synonyms and how they differ
- structuralist theory
- A more specific phrase referring to the theories developed within structuralism; use it when you mean the ideas rather than the movement.
- formalism
- Focuses on the form of a work rather than its content; structuralism is broader and looks for underlying systems.
Opposites
Word family
- structuralist noun
- A person who uses structuralism in their work.
- structuralist adjective
- Relating to structuralism.
- structural adjective
- Relating to structure, often used more generally.
Commonly confused: structuralism or structural functionalism?
structuralism vs structural functionalism
A sociological theory that sees society as a system of interconnected parts; structuralism is more about underlying codes and signs.
Practice
Which sentence uses 'structuralism' correctly?
Choose one answer.
Structuralism is an uncountable noun for a theoretical approach, so it fits in sentence 1; the other options misuse it as a concrete object or verb.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “structuralism”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.