What is structuralism?

What is structuralism?

A term often used in sociology is ‘functional structuralism’.

I thought I would write a quick blog and answer the question: What is structuralism?

Structuralism is an important sociological school of thought. The basic premise here is the assumption that human action can be primarily understood as a product of the underlying 'structures' (van Krikan et al 2006). These structures include the economic and political systems that we live in, as well as the ideological systems that dominate. For example, because we live in a capitalist system with specific capitalist structures, all our actions should be primarily understood from this perspective.

Structuralists (or those that support the theory of structuralism) also believe that these structures are concrete and immovable, and therefore almost impossible to change.

Think about it this way – how difficult is it to imagine living without structures that are central to our capitalist system. Is it possible to imagine bartering rather than shopping?

Sociological structures express the idea that social formations are organised. This organisation occurs along patterned lines that endure and persist over time. We may not even be aware that these patterns exist, but they are there and act as a constraint for those living within them. In some ways, this position is instinctive, as it is hard to argue that we are not born into a social vacuum. Rather, there are an existing set of social arrangements which carry with them expectation that, if we transgress, we may be punished.

Every time you go shopping, you support the capitalist system that we live in. Imagine you decided to 'fight back' against the capitalist system by refusing to pay for things? You would not get very far… and this is called stealing!

It is the ideological structures that are the subtlest because they are essentially invisible. Despite this, these ideological structures shape our assumptions, establishing what is seen as being true, inevitable and basic commonsense.

Our society is not unique in this way as all societies at all times are shaped by patterned way of doing things – and it is this that we define as 'social structure'.

One of the fathers of sociology, Emile Durkheim, used the term 'social fact' to express this notion (Van Kriekan 2006). Durkheim argued that who we are and how we behave in society is a result of the influence of these social facts, arguing that it is specific social arrangements that constrain and regulate our actions as humans.

Structuralism is broadly split into two broad versions: consensus structuralism (or structural functionalism) and conflict structuralism (also known as critical or conflict theory). We discussed these in class but I will probably cover them in further blogs.


References
Van Krieken et al (2006) Sociology: Themes and perspectives, Pearson Education Australia, Frenches Forest