Cultural ResearchCultural Research

Poststructuralist and Postmodern Poststructuralist and Postmodern ApproachesApproaches

PoststructuralismPoststructuralism

Poststructuralism• In order to understand

poststructuralism adequately, we first need a basic grasp of structuralism

• Poststructuralism was in some ways a reaction to, and in some ways a continuation of structuralism

Structuralism• Structuralism was one of the greatest

intellectual movements of the first two-thirds of the twentieth century

• Its founding father was the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure

Ferdinand de Saussure

Saussure• Saussure saw language as operating

on two levels:– “parole”: the actual things we say, write etc

in our everyday lives– “langue”: the rules - in other words

structure - of the language

Saussure• “Parole” has a material existence - we

hear it or see it - and is abundant, varied and unpredictable (we can never be absolutely certain what anyone will say)

Saussure• “Langue” is a finite set of rules which

linguists deduce from their analysis of “parole”

• It has no material existence as such (language exists only as “parole”) and is relatively unchanging

• The rules of English grammar, for example, have changed little over the past two centuries

Structuralism• Structure, then, is a set of abstract

rules underlying the surface variety of human life

• Structures are relatively stable and, if we go deep enough, universal

Structuralism• American linguist Noam Chomsky has

argued there is a deep-structure Universal Grammar underlying all languages

• He claims we are all born with this Universal Grammar programmed into our genes, which explains the ability of any child to learn any language

Structuralism• These ideas were taken up by scholars

working in a wide range of fields, and applied to their area of study

• One of the most famous structuralists was the French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss

Claude Lévi-Strauss

Structuralism• One of his best known studies was of

the myths of primitive peoples• He claimed to be able to isolate

universal structures among the great variety of myths found in many different parts of the world

Structuralism• He reduced these underlying structures

to quasi-mathematical formulas. For example, the basic structure of myth is expressed as:

A B non-A non-B

Structuralism• For example, a battle fought fairly (A)

would result in a better world (B), whereas a battle fought unfairly (not A) would result in a worse world (not B)

• And so on for good kings versus bad kings, excess versus moderation etc. etc.

Poststructuralism• Like structuralism, poststructuralism

was French in origin, though it too spread to be a truly international phenomenon

Poststructuralism• Its most important figures are:

– Jacques Lacan (1901-1981)– Jacques Derrida (1930-2004)– Michel Foucault (1926-1984)

Poststructuralism• Lacan developed an alternative set of

psychoanalytic theories to those offered by Freud (who, though predating the structuralist movement, was to some extent “claimed” by them)

• Derrida developed the method of textual analysis known as “deconstruction” which was not interested in universal rules underlying the text, but in the actual architecture of the text itself

Poststructuralism• Foucault developed a theory of

discourse which is still used by many in the academic field (including myself)

• In the following few slides I will focus on Foucault, since he is the poststructuralist with whom I am most familiar

Michel Foucault

Michel Foucault• Foucault’s main works were:

– Madness and Civilisation– The Birth of the Clinic– The Order of Things– Discipline and Punish– The History of Sexuality

Michel Foucault• Reality is constituted through discourse• For example, “madness” is not something

which simply is across all times and space• “Madness” is constituted by discourses of

madness, and these vary historically and geographically

• “Man” (and “sexuality”) were “invented” in the 19th century!

What is discourse?• Discursive formations are “systems

of dispersion” - they have no single author and are made up of “statements” emerging from a wide range of sources

What is discourse?

• While language is the main expressive vehicle for discourses, they can be carried by any expressive form: photography, painting, cartoons, architecture, statuary, music, dance…

Doing Discursive Analysis• Discourse analysis involves the

analysis of a large number of texts, from different sources, in different styles, formats and so on (not just language but also images, music, art, dance, architecture, statuary and so on…)

Doing Discursive Analysis• It involves not a search for underlying

abstract rules, but the isolation of actually recurring patterns and themes

• These patterns are then related to non-discursive elements revealing relationships of power and contestation

Foucault and Knowledge

• Knowledge is not universal, but is generated within the framework of the dominant episteme

• The greatest event of the late 18th century was not the French Revolution but a change in the episteme which affected all subsequent knowledge

Foucault and Knowledge

• Towards the end of his life (1980s) Foucault sensed that the then current episteme was reaching the point of exhaustion

• This new episteme - if we accept that such a thing exists - would be the postmodern episteme

The Postmodern CritiqueThe Postmodern Critique

The Postmodern Critique• The postmodern critique is an extraordinarily

radical critique of knowledge• The Enlightenment Project is not only over, it

has ended in failure• The Enlightenment Project was also an alibi

for the expansionary programmes of the Great European Powers

Postmodernism• The Grand Narratives have collapsed

and have been replaced by “small narratives”

Loss of historicity• History as a treasure-trove of styles,

pastiche, loss of any sense of process/struggle, the sense of time displaced by a sense of space

The decentred self• The disappearance of the bounded self,

schizo/multiphrenic identities, the cult of sensation, the emergence of a new “sensorium”, the aestheticisation of everyday life

Postmodernism and Art• Collapse of Boundaries between High

and Low Art

• Mixing of styles, quoting, intertextuality, reflexivity, the suspect nature of “originality”

Postmodernism and Marx• The Marxist view of postmodernism

(Frederic Jameson): Postmodernism is the culture of the latest (globalising) phase of capitalism, which has eroded the authority structures of the nation-states

Postmodernism and Power• Have knowledge and power become

sites of play?

• Or has the struggle for knowledge and power simply assumed new forms?