Structuralism, post‐structuralism, and the library: de Saussure and Foucault
| Pages | 60-78 |
| Date | 01 February 2005 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/00220410510578014 |
| Published date | 01 February 2005 |
| Author | Gary P. Radford,Marie L. Radford |
| Subject Matter | Information & knowledge management,Library & information science |
Structuralism,
post-structuralism, and the
library: de Saussure and Foucault
Gary P. Radford
Department of English, Communication, and Philosophy,
Fairleigh Dickinson University, Madison, New Jersey, USA, and
Marie L. Radford
School of Communication, Information, and Library Studies,
Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey, USA
Abstract
Purpose – Explores the relevance of structuralism and post-structuralism to the field of library and
information science (LIS).
Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a literature-based conceptual analysis of the two
philosophical movements, structuralism and post-structuralism, as represented by the seminal figures
of Ferdinand de Saussure and Michel Foucault.
Findings – The principles of structuralism and post-structuralism have significant implications for
how the role of the modern library can and should be viewed.
Originality/value – Provides insights into LIS by drawing on philosophical perspectives that are
beyond the LIS literature.
Keywords Philosophy, Information science, Libraries
Paper type Conceptual paper
Introduction
Structure, structuralism, and post-structuralism
This paper seeks to provide a gateway to new avenues of inquiry and to provide fresh
insights for investigating and conceptualizing the field of library and information
science (LIS). It describes the principles of structuralism and post-structuralism,
illustrating these descriptions with literary examples to clarify these models, and
discusses their relevance to LIS. To begin, in looking at the origin of the term
“structure,” one finds that the term initially had an architectural meaning. It referred to
the “action, practice, or process of building or construction” and “the way in which an
edifice, machine, implement, etc. is made or put together” (The Oxford English
Dictionary, 1933, Vol. X, p. 1165). In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the use
of the term broadened and came to describe the ways in which the parts of a concrete
being are structured into a whole. This concept could apply to a variety of structures,
including anatomical, geological, and mathematical. In biology, for example, structure
was used to describe the component parts of an animal and how these parts were
mutually connected and interdependent on one another.
The application of the notion of structure to language and the social sciences in
general came from developments in the field of linguistics through the seminal Course
in General Linguistics of Ferdinand de Saussure (1983), the founder of structural
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JDOC
61,1
60
Accepted 9 September 2004
Journal of Documentation
Vol. 61 No. 1, 2005
pp. 60-78
qEmerald Group Publishing Limited
0022-0418
DOI 10.1108/00220410510578014
linguistics (see Dosse, 1997). The heart of de Saussure’s linguistics is the following
proposition:
A language is a system in which all the elements fit together, and in which the value of any
one element depends on the simultaneous coexistence of all the others (de Saussure, 1983,
p. 113).
Harris (1983, p. ix) writes that de Saussure’s connection of language and structure
enabled the Course to occupy “a place of unique importance in the history of Western
thinking” and to become a key text “not only within the development of linguistics but
also in the formation of that broader intellectual movement of the twentieth century
known as ‘structuralism’”.
In the Course, de Saussure (1983) proposed a scientific model of language as a closed
system of elements and rules that could be described quite independently from the
psychological subjectivity of any particular user of that language. For example, if de
Saussure were to consider this paragraph of text, he would not be concerned with the
particular and unique thoughts the authors are attempting to commit to paper, or even
the particular words that appear before the reader’s eyes. Rather, de Saussure would
attempt to describe the language system that both authors and readers must hold in
common to make this particular example of communication possible and, in particular,
the rules by which such a system is governed.
Post-structuralism not only questions, but also continues, the central project of
structuralism – the inquiry into the organizing principles of a language system.
However, while structuralism posits that the language system can be described in an
objective and scientific manner, post-structuralism suggests that such descriptions are
themselves always highly contextual. Whereas de Saussure’s structuralism was
confident that the principles by which language is organized can be fully determined
and described, post-structuralism calls into question all such assumptions and
suggests that such conclusions are always fragile and open to subversion.
In this discussion of the principles of structuralism and post-structuralism, two
figures are selected as representative of each approach: Ferdinand de Saussure and
Michel Foucault. The principles of both theorists are described through extensive use
of literary examples, including Jorge Luis Borges’ short story “The Library of Babel,”
Ian Fleming’s novel Casino Royale, Sylvia Nasar’s biography of John Nash, and Oliver
Sack’s account of a man who regained his sight after 40 years of blindness. The article
ends with a discussion of how these principles offer new intellectual tools for
understanding the nature and place of the library in a postmodern world. We begin
with a discussion of de Saussure’s structuralism and, in particular, the emphasis placed
on the creation of patterns.
The primacy of patterns
Creating patterns at the Casino Royale
The key to understanding de Saussure’s structuralism is the idea that meaning is made
possible by patterns rather than by some correspondence between “a name and a
thing” (de Saussure, 1983, p. 66). To demonstrate this idea, we turn to one of the most
famous students of patterns in modern popular culture: Ian Fleming’s character of
James Bond 007. In his novel Casino Royale, Fleming (1953, p. 58) describes Bond
standing at the roulette table at the Royale-les-Eaux casino:
de Saussure and
Foucault
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