What does the term structuralism mean?
Structuralism is an approach in academic disciplines that explores the relationships between fundamental elements of some kind, upon which some higher mental, linguistic, social, cultural etc. “structures” are built, through which then meaning is produced within a particular person, system, or culture. Structuralism appeared in academic psychology for the first time in the 19th century and then reappeared in the second half of the 20th century, when it grew to become one of the most popular approaches in the academic fields that are concerned with analyzing language, culture, and society. The work of Ferdinand de Saussure concerning linguistics is generally considered to be a starting point of the 20th century structuralism. The term of “structuralism” itself appeared in relation to French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss’ works, and gave rise, in France, to the “structuralist movement,” which gathered thinkers such as psychoanalyst Lacan, Foucault or Althusser and Poulantzas’ struct
