Structuralism is a method of interpreting and analysing such things as language, literature, and society, which focuses on contrasting ideas or elements of structure and attempts to show how they relate to the whole structure.
[technical]
structuralism in British English
(ˈstrʌktʃərəˌlɪzəm)
noun
1.
an approach to anthropology and other social sciences and to literature that interprets and analyses its material in terms of oppositions, contrasts, and hierarchical structures, esp as they might reflect universal mental characteristics or organizing principles
Compare functionalism
2.
an approach to linguistics that analyses and describes the structure of language, as distinguished from its comparative and historical aspects
Derived forms
structuralist (ˈstructuralist)
noun, adjective
structuralism in American English
(ˈstrʌktʃərəlˌɪzəm)
noun
1.
a movement for determining and analyzing the basic, relatively stable structural elements of a system, esp. in the behavioral sciences