SOCI 2040 Chapter Notes - Chapter 12: Louis Althusser, Political Radicalism, Post-Structuralism
Document Summary
Pages: 641-653: we begin this chapter with the work of michel foucault, who is commonly identified as a chief progenitor of poststructuralist theory as well as one of the most intellectual influences in the 20th century. It is better understood as a theoretical trend, as a loosely articulated set of ideas that find common expression in the works of influential french writers. It is also named because it represents a challenge to the central european and. American tradition of theory dominant in the mid-20th century: structuralism. Structuralist thought emphasizes that there are forces in social life that emerge out of human activity but stand outside of human agency or intervention. Saussure develops his theory by making a key distinction between the formal structure of language and the everyday speech. Language is the structural dimension of language institutionalized and patterned through the establishment of social conventions while speech is the active use of language in everyday interaction.
