CMNS1234 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: Roland Barthes, Metanarrative, Existentialism
28 May 2018
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The Discourses of French Post-structuralism
• “In post-Second-World-War France, existentialist phenomenology and Marxist
thought provided the dominant and – to some extent – conflicting forces in
intellectual life.
• phenomenology and various forms of objectivist approaches to society, ranging from
Marxism to structuralism, informed the work of a whole generation of French
intellectuals,
Phenomenology
• phenomenologists were concerned with studying direct conscious experience at the
individual level.
• it seeks to determine in a neutral and value free way the essential properties of
consciousness and conscious experience
Structuralism
• surface events and phenomena are to be explained by structures, data, and
phenomena below the surface.
• ‘Structuralists argue that people are determined and controlled by the social and
aesthetic structures that they live in, and that dominant ideology is transmitted
through these structures to a relatively powerless population’ (O'Shaughnessy &
Stadler 2002, p. 298).
Post-structuralism
• ‘Poststructuralism comes after, is built on, is linked to, and challenges structuralism’
(O'Shaughnessy & Stadler 2002, p. 298).
• In particular they suggest that people are determined by structures, that they are
dominated by them and therefore have little autonomy or freedom. Poststructuralism
opens up more possibilities’ (O'Shaughnessy & Stadler 2002, p. 298).
• Its founding insight is that language, far from reflecting an already given social reality,
constitutes social reality for us.
• it moves away from seeking the absolute truth about anything and instead seeks to
understand the relative aspects of the things encountered in the world.
Jean Francois Lyotard
• For Lyotard social and cultural life is organised around ‘language games’
• the telling of stories, myths, legends and tales are the main ‘language games’ since
“narratives help to convey the rules on which social order is based”
• metanarratives, (that is grand narratives that give meaning to other narratives) are
undermined by the advent of postmodernism
• knowledge fragments into a multiplicity of different language-games
• Diversity is the order of the day as people lose faith in the search for one great truth
that unites and justifies all knowledge”
Jacques Derrida
• Jacques Derrida is most famous for popularising the term ‘deconstruction’.
• Derrida argued that the meanings to be found in language are endless since they are
what he calls ‘iterable’.
• when we deconstruct meaning it eventually disappears in an infinite regress
Jean Beaudrillard
• argues signs in human culture have passed though four main stages;
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
In post-second-world-war france, existentialist phenomenology and marxist thought provided the dominant and to some extent conflicting forces in intellectual life: phenomenology and various forms of objectivist approaches to society, ranging from. Marxism to structuralism, informed the work of a whole generation of french intellectuals, Phenomenology: phenomenologists were concerned with studying direct conscious experience at the individual level. it seeks to determine in a neutral and value free way the essential properties of consciousness and conscious experience. Structuralism: surface events and phenomena are to be explained by structures, data, and phenomena below the surface. Structuralists argue that people are determined and controlled by the social and aesthetic structures that they live in, and that dominant ideology is transmitted through these structures to a relatively powerless population" (o"shaughnessy & Poststructuralism comes after, is built on, is linked to, and challenges structuralism" (o"shaughnessy & stadler 2002, p. 298).
