Register to read the introduction…
For Levi Strauss, communication formed the basis of human communities. He therefore suggested that anthropology must learn and develop its methodology from modern forms of linguistics derived from Ferdinand de Saussure. This is when he began to extend Saussures linguistic theory to the study of social and cultural life. Levi Strauss discovers the notion of how a system can be composed of socially contracted relationships or connections between ‘levels’, whose substantive content is of secondary interest. What is common for us all is that our minds organize things in the same way. Thought processes of the human minds are the same, what he means by this is that in order to make sense of the world we live in the mind is structured to think and classify social and cultural life in terms of logical or binary opposites. “Rather, the auditory unit is delimited by a stacked set of distinctive features. And the whole series of distinctive features exists in principle as a set of binary opposites (voice/unvoiced, open closed, front/back etc.) which, trough various combinations of the oppositions’ different sides, should generate the entire acoustic array known to human language” (Boon J A. 1972. From Symbolism to Structuralism Levi-Strauss In a Literary Tradition.
…show more content…
Let us imagine, however what Barthes might have to say about more recent media personalities and cultural phenomena. Barthes was interested in the way individuals whole status set them apart from humanity at large. An example of a prevalent myth is the way women are represented in the media. In Novels and Children Barthes points out that, that in a recent survey of female novelists published by a women’s magazine, the writers are identified not only by the number of books they have produced but also by the number of children they have. Barthes read this as an encouragement for women to be free, creative and productive in the market place, whilst at the same time their freedom is a luxury and their prime role is to produce children. However, half a century later, we may have the impression that the view of women and their role in society has dramatically changed. However the example of wives of presidents and prime ministers in Western democracies seems to show myth of womanhood is evolving but has not totally disappeared. Ribiere M. 2002. Barthes A Beginners Guide. Hodger and Stoughton: Great Britain.
Let us imagine, however what Barthes might have to say about more recent media personalities and cultural phenomena. Barthes was interested in the way individuals whole status set them apart from humanity at large. An example of a prevalent myth is the way women are represented in the media. In Novels and Children Barthes points out that, that in a recent survey of female novelists published by a women’s magazine, the writers are identified not only by the number of books they have produced but also by the number of children they have. Barthes read this as an encouragement for women to be free, creative and productive in the market place, whilst at the same time their freedom is a luxury and their prime role is to produce children. However, half a century later, we may have the impression that the view of women and their role in society has dramatically changed. However the example of wives of presidents and prime ministers in Western democracies seems to show myth of womanhood is evolving but has not totally disappeared. Ribiere M. 2002. Barthes A Beginners Guide. Hodger and Stoughton: Great Britain.