By:
Katherine Matos Jimenez
Advance English 126- Introduction & Literature
Dr. Evelyn Lugo
TR 11:30am-1:00pm
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It is a theory developed in France between 1950
and 1960.
Begin with the work of Ferdinand de Saussure
on linguistics, along with that of
the Prague and Moscow schools.
Analyzes any phenomena about the world
mostly contrasting elementary structure in a
system of binary opposition (a pair of opposite
concepts).
Description and perception of the structure.
Some fields in which Structuralism is applied are
anthropology, sociology, architecture,
linguistics, psychology, and literature.
 The most famous thinkers associated with
structuralism include:
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 Anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss
 Psychoanalyst Jacques Lacan
 Philosopher and historian Michel Foucault
 Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser
 Literary critic Roland Barthes
LINGUISTICS
•The linguistics signs analysis
focuses on the relationship
between words (Signifier)
and the things in the world
that they designate
(Signified).
•Structural linguistics
include paradigm, syntagm,
and value.
•Examines how the elements
of language relate to each
other.
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The meaning is produced and reproduced
within a culture through various phenomena
that serve as systems of signification.
Diverse forms of entertainment are studied
(as food preparation and serving rituals,
religious rites, games, literary and nonliterary texts).
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This relates literary texts to a larger structure,
which may be genre, intertextual connections,
narrative structure, or recurrent patterns (like
how the structures of a text are resolved).
There must be a structure in every text to
interpret it.
 An example would be West Side Story and Romeo and
Juliet structures.
"Boy + Girl“.
"Boy's Group - Girl's Group" or "Opposing forces“.
Conflict is resolved by their death.
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Structuralism have the goal to describe the
structure of the mind in terms of mental
experience.
This theory focused on three things:
1. The individual elements of consciousness.
2. How they organized into more complex
experiences
3. How these mental phenomena correlated with
physical events.
The design is a process of searching for the
relationship between elements, interested in
the social structures and mental processes that
contributed to the design.
 Great complexity within a highly structured
construction.
 For example, a design may consist of cell-like
honeycomb shapes, intersecting planes, cubed
grids, or densely clustered spaces with
connecting courtyards.
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The Berlin Holocaust Memorial is a controversial Structuralist work by
architect Peter Eisenman.
Siegel, K. (n.d.). Introduction to Modern Literary Theory .Kristi
Siegel. Retrieved March 3, 2011, from
www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm
 The American Heritage dictionary of the English language (4th
ed.). (2000). Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
 Perez, R. (2011, February 13). Psychology Aldebaran: Later
Psychology Developments (Classic
Psychology).Psychology Aldebaran. Retrieved March 14,
2011, from
http://psychologyaldebaran.blogspot.com/2011/02/lae rpsychology-developments-classic.html
 Structuralism. (2011, February 3). In Wikipedia, The Free
Encyclopedia. Retrieved 07:20, March 14, 2011,
from http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Structuralism
&oldid=411716678
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