Structuralism

An analytical approach in anthropology and related social sciences that explains cultural practices, beliefs, and meanings as outcomes of underlying relational structures—ordered systems of differences and oppositions—such that elements acquire identity through their position within a network of relations rather than by intrinsic properties.

An analytic model that interprets artworks, texts and cultural products as systems of underlying structures—rules, oppositions, conventions and relational positions—where meaning is generated by elements’ positions and relations within an organized system rather than by their isolated properties.