Claude Levi Strauss

Claude Levi Strauss
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Claude Lévi-Strauss
Occupation: Anthropologist
Born: November 28, 1908, in Brussels, Belgium
Education: University of Paris (Sorbonne)
Died: October 30, 2009, in Paris, France

1927 Studying philosophy and law at the University of Paris till 1932
1934 Moved to Brazil, Prof. of sociology at University of Sao Paolo
1939 Anthropological fieldwork in in indigenous communities in the Mato Grasso

and Brazilian Amazon regions.
1955 Achieved literary fame for his book "Tristes Tropiques", which chronicled
part of his time in Brazil.
1941 Reaching post at the New School for Research
1948 Lévi-Strauss returned to France in 1948, where he received his

doctorate from the Sorbonne
1949 Published his first major work, Les Structures élémentaires de la

parenté (rev. ed., 1967; The Elementary Structures of Kinship).
1950 Director of studies at the École des Hautes Études at the

University of Paris from
1959 Appointed the chair of Social Anthropology at the famed Collège de

France and held the position until 1982
Before we start talking about Claude Levi Strauss’s work and ideas; let’s take a good
look at some necessary terms which will be helpful in understanding Strauss’s theory.
What is Structure?
Definition by Jean Piaget
Structure can be observed in an arrangement of entities which

embodies the following fundamental ideas:
(a) The idea of wholeness

(b) The idea of transformation
(c) The idea of self-regulation
The idea of wholeness
- Wholeness is the sense of internal coherence.
- The arrangement of entities will be complete in itself and it is
not something that is a composition of independent elements.
The idea of transformation
The structure is not static.
In order to avoid reduction to the level merely of passive

forms, the structure must be capable of transformational
procedures.
Ex, Language; a basic human structure.

The idea of self-regulation
The structure is self-regulating.
It makes no appeals beyond itself in order to validate its

transformational procedures. A language, to take the previous
example, does not construct its formations of words by reference to
the patterns of ‘reality’, but on the basis of its own internal and self
sufficient rules.
Now that we have an understanding of structure; we can move forward and try to
understand other elements of it.
Structuralism and structural laws
Structuralism is fundamentally a way of thinking about
the world which is predominantly concerned with the
perception and description of structures.
Any observer is bound to create something of what he

observes.
The new concept; the world is made up of relationships

rather than words, constitutes the first principle of the
way of thinking which can be called “Structuralist”.
Structural laws are in place that affects the
position of the whole and its parts in the event
of changes.
Ex; A building
Tristes Tropiques
‘I hate travelling and explorers’
Tristes Tropiques (the French title translates literally as
"Sad Tropics") is a memoir, first published in France in
1955,
It documents his travels and anthropological work,
focusing principally on Brazil, though it refers to many
other places, such as the Caribbean and India. Although
ostensibly a travelogue, the work is infused with
philosophical reflections and ideas linking many
academic disciplines, such as sociology, geology, music,
history and literature.
The book was first translated into English by John
Russell as A World on the Wane.
Pivotal Influence
Levi Strauss then travelled to America where he came in contact
with Roman Jakobson who was a pioneer of structural linguistics,
Jakobson was one of the most celebrated and influential linguists of
the twentieth century.
And after that, his work mostly revolved around Structuralism.

Myths and Mythemes
Levi Strauss is known for his analysis of myths. He analysed myth
systems of some primitive tribes.
He tried to translate myths. Acc. to him, myths do not lose its

original meaning when translated - Because of certain components
in them which are similar to all cultures - They are called
Mythemes.
Mythemes
They are the basic constituent unit of Myths.
- It is equivalent to phonemes in structural linguistics which

was studied by Jakobson.
- Every mytheme gets its meaning from the position in the
myth, and un relation with other mythemes.
- Example of Kalki and Mahdi.

Levi Strauss’ Theories - Myth
Levi-Strauss studied myth like language, he expanded Saussure’s theories
1) - Langue & Parole
Comparison of myth with Langue and Parole
Langue is generally a formal form of Myth has also mytheme part in it

communication where it follows a which remains constant throughout
certain set of rules and doesn’t vary. different structures
Parole is generally verbal and is a Myth as a whole varies in different

free form of communication structures.
2) - Sassure’s theory of signs
Signs get meaning based on structure,

similarly mythemes get meaning based on
the structure they are in.
He came to the conclusion that myths

represent the mind that makes them and not
an external reality, by clearly stating the idea
that the elements of myths derive their
meaning from the way they are combined in
a structure.
Levi Strauss’ Theories - Kinship
Read these two sentences
Oh! Wow you did it!
Oh! Not again
Just as how a word is determined by the structure in which it

is placed, “ a human’s identity is based on relationships with
other humans.
So i can be a daughter, an aunt, a mother and so on

according to the structure i am in.
Binary Opposition
Two ideas having contrasting meanings.
Eg 1 - Good X Evil
He considers that these contrasting ideas

are base of any kind of narrative (books,
myths, movies)
Critiques
While Structuralism was very popular during the 1960’s and 70’s, it eventually fell to much criticism
in the late 1970 and 80’s, giving way to Post-Structuralism and other anthropological theories.
Lack of Proof
● The largest source of criticism for Structuralism seems to be the lack of proof.
● Claude Levi-Strauss did not have proof of his concepts, but rather he assumed the
fundamental structures of human thought to be universal.
● Some materialist such as Marvin Harris, said the Structuralism is based on the
assumption that cultural structures are the empirical reality of any given society, meaning
that Structuralism denies the impact that the individual or a given culture has his/her own
beliefs and that the possibility for scientific answers and common sense do not factor into
Levi-Strauss structuralist theory.
● Levi-Strauss says that all human brains contain the same psychological ideas was his
argument only, and he never fully explained his assumptions.
Ignores Individual Differentiation
● Another criticism of Levi-Strauss and his structuralist theory was the assumption that all
human minds were identical.
● Levi-Strauss “synchronic approach, which advocates a “psychic unity” of all human minds,
has been criticized because it does not account for individual human action historically”.
● According to him, all human minds will eventually come to same conclusion, leaving no room
for human individuality.
● However, individuality does exist in society, especially through time.
Ahistorical
● Structuralism looks at society in the present without any regard for the past, completely
ignoring the historical context of the development of ideas.
● Structuralism, therefore, does not account for social change which gives a weakness to
structuralist claims.
● Levi-Strauss assumptions that the structures of human thought are universal gives room
for criticism as there is no scientific research demonstrating his argument. There is no
practical evidence showing the development of the human brain.
● History, like economies and societies, were completely irrelevant to Claude Levi-Strauss.
Post-Structuralist Critique
● According to Post Structuralists, to understand an object, it is necessary to study both, the
object itself, and the system of knowledge which were coordinated to produce the object.
● They also said that, Structuralism utilized a descriptive view while Post-Structuralism
utilized a Historical view in accordance with their theories and claims.
● In response to Structuralism, Post-Structuralists imagined it would be more effective to
emphasize history to analyse descriptive concepts and support their claims.
● According to a Jeanette Ehedding-Jones, an important post-structuralist critique of
Structuralism, “is that it presupposes order and structure, and that it silences locality and
difference.
Marxist Critique
● Marxist thinkers criticized Structuralism for the lack of attention to material conditions, such as
economic resources, property, and class.
● Economies differ throughout the world, and are extremely important in the world system, and
Marxism clearly illustrates the differences between capitalist and non-capitalist systems.
Bibliography
https://cdn.britannica.com/77/236677-050-8F559BF9/Claude-Levi-Strauss-2001.jpg
https://www.thoughtco.com/claude-levi-strauss-life-theories-4174954
https://www.britannica.com/topic/Universities-of-Paris-I-XIII
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_L%C3%A9vi-Strauss
https://literariness.org/2018/03/23/key-theories-of-claude-levi-strauss/
https://study.com/learn/lesson/claude-levi-strauss-structuralism-biography.html#:~:text=L%C3%A9vi%2DSt
rauss'%20structuralism%20is%20the,each%20part%20of%20the%20whole
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Claude Levi Strauss

Born: November 28, 1908, in Brussels, Belgium

Education: University of Paris (Sorbonne)

Died: October 30, 2009, in Paris, France

1934 Moved to Brazil, Prof. of sociology at University of Sao Paolo

1939 Anthropological fieldwork in in indigenous communities in the Mato Grasso

1948 Lévi-Strauss returned to France in 1948, where he received his

1949 Published his first major work, Les Structures élémentaires de la

1950 Director of studies at the École des Hautes Études at the

1959 Appointed the chair of Social Anthropology at the famed Collège de

Definition by Jean Piaget

Structure can be observed in an arrangement of entities which

(a) The idea of wholeness

In order to avoid reduction to the level merely of passive

Ex, Language; a basic human structure.

It makes no appeals beyond itself in order to validate its

Any observer is bound to create something of what he

The new concept; the world is made up of relationships

And after that, his work mostly revolved around Structuralism.

He tried to translate myths. Acc. to him, myths do not lose its

- It is equivalent to phonemes in structural linguistics which

- Example of Kalki and Mahdi.

1) - Langue & Parole

Comparison of myth with Langue and Parole

Langue is generally a formal form of Myth has also mytheme part in it

Parole is generally verbal and is a Myth as a whole varies in different

Signs get meaning based on structure,

He came to the conclusion that myths

Oh! Wow you did it!

Oh! Not again

Just as how a word is determined by the structure in which it

So i can be a daughter, an aunt, a mother and so on

He considers that these contrasting ideas

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