Structuralism by definition claims that there are universal
and omnipresent patterns across various cultures and civilizations that reflect
the invariable structure of human nature and the fundamental principles of
human thought and disposition. Anthropologists and social scientists are able
to view societies and historical events through a structuralist lens by the
transparent similarities of civilizations. Levi Strauss remarked upon the interconnectedness of cultures, and “in the wake of structuralism it has become routine for
anthropologists to identify far-reaching, nonobvious architectural forms,
practices of food production and consumption, practices of bodily adornment,
geography, cosmology, and other areas of life, where formerly these areas might
have been only subjects of descriptive cataloguing."*
Despite the geographic separation of
cultures, many share similar tenets and pillars, such as the formation of
religions and law codes, the use of dialect, and (in some cases), the creation
of hierarchy. We can observe the independent development of language in many different
regions, from Mesoamerican script to the Chinese Jaihu symbols on the backs of tortoise
shells. The development of similar elements and customs points toward the
prevalence of a universal structure of human nature that structuralist
advocates are able examine and apply their philosophy of examining things in
their relation to one another (and a higher structure), than simply in
isolation. This belief that "the whole is greater than the parts, appeals to the Gestalt school of psychology. Essentially, elements of culture are not explanatory in and of themselves, but rather form part of a meaningful system." **
However, one critique of structuralism is it that it is often
considered to be "static and 'ahistorical' (not examining past events), thus not accounting for the way history effects the present,"***. This probably contributed to downfall of structuralism, and (after it's brief success), the post structuralist reaction. Yet the main ideas of structuralism can be used to gain a better understand of the fundamental pillars of humanity.
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