Key Elements

Structuralism is a theory that analyzes human culture in the context of its relationship to a bigger structure or system. It assumes that there are common and universal patterns of human thought and behavior that form the basis of every culture. This theory has been applied in a variety of disciplines such as psychology, anthropology, sociology, and literary criticism.


In literary criticism, structuralism is the identification of a work’s structure, or literary form, and the analysis of its function through a scientific, objective view rather than of its social or historical content. It focuses on the functions of a work’s literary devices and techniques, and determines that there are correct and incorrect interpretations. It is based on the assumption that there is a structure underlying every work of literature. Structuralism is an extension of formalism, which places emphasis on literary form and devices of a text, such as plot or narrative strategy rather than author or context. Structuralism is also related to semiotics, or the study of signs, in that it analyzes literature as a system of signs, or “signifiers” and “signifieds”. The idea of a “subject” is also introduced in this theory, describing reality as being constructed and a product of usually unconscious activities, or signs. In this way, structuralism views literary works as systems of meaningful signs in various patterns of relationships.