Sociology 2240E Study Guide - Quiz Guide: Frantz Fanon, Judith Butler, Binary Opposition
20 Oct 2017
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Write an essay that explores the genesis of thinking about binaries in the constitution of cultural meaning. Introduction: whose work introduced the concept of the binary? (claude levi strauss) The application of ferdinand de saussure"s notion of semiotics where he particularly analyzes language as a totally arbitrary system of signification to cultural systems founds the broader theory of structuralism. Claude levi strauss introduced the conceptof the binary as he believed that meaning only happens through difference and is shaped and constrained by an innate structuring capacity" in humans. Particularly, strauss argues that stories, myths, and folktales reflect this binary tendency as they are used to understand and organize the world. The emergence of post-structuralist theorist, jacques derrida, challenges the notion of binary opposition and posits that it induces a violent hierarchy . Thesis:this essay will explore derrida"s principle of deferrance , where meaning is never fixed, in relation to levi strauss" perspective on how meaning is produced through binary opposition.
