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Articles

A Gentle Introduction to Structuralism, Postmodernism And All That

John Mann explains what the Continentals are up to these days.

In the 1980s there was a lot of excitement about postmodernism, deconstruction, structuralism and post-structuralism. This flood of theory appeared to offer a radical new perspective for understanding and experiencing the world. It was an enlightenment which left all those who rejected it cursed with still being stuck in the murky mire of the old ways of thinking which had dominated western thought for 2000 years and which at last we could escape. Such religious fervour with its condemnation of heretics and establishment of new messiahs has softened, and it is now possible to look quietly and calmly at what was going on.

Structuralism

Structuralism arose on the continent, in particular in France, in the early 60s.

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