The first thing we are going to indicate is that structuralism is a word formed from different lexical components of Latin. Specifically, it is the result of the sum of these elements:
-The noun “structure”, which can be translated as “result of building”.
-The suffix “-ism”, which is used to indicate “doctrine”.
-The suffix “-al”, which means “relative to”.
Structuralism is an approach to science that is based on considering data sets as structures . This method takes interrelated information as systems .
Through the tools of structuralism, various aspects of society , culture and language can be analyzed, for example. Structuralists study specific fields as structures whose components are related to each other. It is within these structures where meanings are generated.
According to structuralism, meaning is produced and reproduced through actions and practices that form a unity. Linguistics, literature , anthropology and mathematics are some fields of knowledge where structuralist principles were applied.
In the field of linguistics , the structuralism of Ferdinand de Saussure marked the beginning of the modern consideration of this science. The “General Linguistics Course” that his disciples published based on his classes is considered a key work.
Structuralism maintains that linguistic elements maintain a bond of dependence and solidarity that leads to the development of a system (the language ). The units of language, in this framework, can only be defined based on their relationships.
In the same way, we cannot forget to highlight the existence of what is known as Lévi-Strauss structuralism. Specifically, what this French philosopher did was apply his ideas and analysis to the field of anthropology. Thanks to this, among other things, he was able to establish a revolutionary method to, for example, interpret myths, to explain what the functioning of society was and even to discover what the main systems of thought were.
Specifically, thanks to structuralism, he studied in depth the social organization prevailing in tribes in both North America and Brazil. And a good example of this work were publications such as “Tristes tropics” (1955) or “The structures of kinship” (1949).
In anthropology , structuralism is a current that addresses social phenomena as structures of symbols or signs . That is why these phenomena should not be studied as events: they must be considered as meanings.
Likewise, we cannot ignore the fact that structuralism has also influenced other areas or sectors. A good example of this is that, in the same way, it had its presence in the world of art, which it considered a merely semiological fact. Figures such as Charles Morris or Umberto Eco have played an essential role in this line.
At the economic level, finally, structuralism or developmentalism is the theory that postulates that the global economic order is a scheme that has industrial power in the center and agricultural economies in the periphery. This order generates a structural deterioration in trade relations that affects peripheral nations.