Structuralism: A Helpful Overview

This video provides a basic explanation of Structuralism in an easy, enthusiastic, and accessible manner. This lecture explains the historical notions it overturned, its influences, and its implications on contemporary culture as taught from the perspective of a contemporary artist.

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[aidosargioi]

At long last. An overview lecture on structuralism on YouTube that actually makes sense... I can't thank you enough.

[soraiamicaela]

I love how passionate she is while talking about it, it makes me really enjoy to learn, her love is contagious!! I finally found a video where structuralism is explained very well, thank you so much!

[MoviesWithJordan]

This is amazing! I'm currently in my masters for English and we are going over structuralism this week. It was hard to grasp until I saw this video, so thank you!

[Philobiblion]

Brilliant. I wrote my French masters thesis in 1983 on the subject of Mallarmé's translations of Poe, and how translation theory did not accommodate the "two axis" problem of meaning in translation viewed from the perspective of structuralist theory. It was very hard work, but very rewarding. The idea was that literal meaning lay on one axis, and poetical 'essence' or the impulse of the sounds of language in poetry lay on the other axis. The ideal translation was one that managed to accommodate literal meaning while conveying the essence of the language of the original in the translation. For what it's worth, this vid completely refreshed my memory of what was behind this damned thesis 40 years ago. The underlying structuralist concept was the foundation stone, but I had forgotten exactly how or why until now. Thank you. I now realize, in retrospect, I wrote a pretty goddamn good thesis, under these conditions.

[gabrielemakareviciute-osip]

Thank you for the lecture. I'd just like to add a couple of things: Lévi-Strauss wasn't the creator of a paradigmatic (vertical) structural approach, he took this idea from Saussure and employed it in literature to explain mythology. Also, I don't think that your criticism to structuralism is founded. The fact that structuralists (and people in general) use words/linguistic resources to construct their arguments is not a counterargument to the idea of arbitrariness. It does not matter if a tree is called 'tree' or 'arbre', the importance lies in a sound-concept relation, that we connect a specific signifier with what is signified. Structuralists could base their position on a different choice of words, their selection does not show that these meanings are intrinsic.

[richardbaroff]

I really appreciate the insight that Structuralism is an inversion of Platonic Idealism. Also that she considers Marx and Freud as forerunners of Structuralism. Thank you.

[stephendelaney]

Thank you so much for this. Saussure’s writing (or perhaps just his English translations) can be incredibly intimidating and daunting. Even after spending days with them, this video has helped immensely in my understanding and immersion into structuralism.

[daniyalkhalid]

This is such a great resource. Thanks a lot for posting this!

[AsiaAbdullahh]

I’m still watching the video and will rewatch it a bunch of times. But just wanted to say you beautiful BEAUTIFUL human thank you so much. I’m kinda getting the hang of this now. You explain it so well. Thank you!!!

[Lina-btgj]

omg this helped me so much for my critical theory class, like i completely understood you!!! Lots of writings on structuralism tend to be ranting almost, very all over the place so this was great

[mangohallucinates]

I'm watching this bc I have an essay due in three days about all the schools of psychology used for advertising and my teacher did not explain the topic NEARLY as well as you did. what the hell! thank you so much this is very clear and one can tell you're super passionate about this, i love that.

[fatimanadaabziz]

OMG ! Thank you so much Ma'am. Much love from Algeria 🇩🇿💜

[Crocalu]

One of the few videos about this kind of theory that acknowledges the ironies and hypocrisies. A breath of fresh air, makes your video much more trustworthy!

[uconh]

So far this is the most helpful lecture to understand structuralism.. thanks a lot !

[rushingandhi]

I cannot emphasize enough on the fact that how helpful to students and to overall humanity are these lectures that breaks difficult studies into simplest of its elements. Thank you so much ma'am.

[mutabazimichael]

i came this video bumped into my feed cause I have looked up some video on Claude Lévi Strauss in the most elegant and scientific way there was and also because some people see him as the father of modern anthropology after that i looked up a little bit more about this structuralism thing and I'm very glad that i came upon your video

[Devill]

Great! You have really got the gift for turning difficult concept into simple language. Thank you, indeed!

[jorgemachado]

15:32 - But if words are arbitrary that doesn't necessarily follows they don't have any meaning, right? It just follows that the meaning we attribute to them is a human projection and not something of things in themselves, right?

[chuggyy]

Nailed it in the last part; they are complimentary approaches. This subject has been touched on for millenia, but not always in language that is understood well in modernity. There is a need for periodic revitalization of this idea in scientific consciousness of a given age.

The dichotomy that is described in the video is to me very similar to more ancient ideas of governance (of the mind and by extension the state, which is merely mind collectivized) whereby the "true" perception is more of a synthesis between two poles... namely, there is a logical (sometimes depicted as masculine) understanding and an intuitive, creative or mystical (female) understanding. In the marriage (indeed it has in the past been referred to as a holy matrimony within the individual) of these two ways of conceiving arises the child of action that mediates between them. This is basically what people like Jung are getting at when they talk about ideas like "the Transcendant Function" (which is a fascinating line of inquiry for those who are intrigued).

[lonezahid]

Thank you, finally a proper video on STRUCTURALISM.