Post-structuralism

Post-structuralism is a philosophical movement that questions the objectivity or stability of the various interpretive structures that structuralism posits, and considers them to be constituted by broader systems of power. Although different post-structuralists present different critiques of structuralism, common themes include the rejection of the self-sufficiency of structuralism and an interrogation of the binary oppositions that make up its structures, so post-structuralism discards the idea of interpreting media, or the world, within pre-established, socially constructed structures. Structuralism proposes that human culture can be understood by means of a structure modeled on language, and the post-structuralist response is that building meaning from such an interpretation requires falsely assuming that the definitions of its signs are valid and fixed.