A Review of the Chapter on “Structuralism and Semiotics” in the Routledge Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory

Structuralism is one of the most influential intellectual movements in the twentieth century, which has its roots in Ferdinand de Saussure’s linguistic and semilogical theory. The primary objective of Structuralism is to focus on the structures underlying various cultural phenomena and identify the general rules governing them. Although decades have passed since the advent of Structuralism and serious criticisms have been addressed at its basic assumptions and methodology, it still remains significant, especially within literary and cultural theory, such that in all guidebooks and textbooks of literary theory one chapter is always devoted to Structuralism. One of these books is the second edition of The Routledge Companion to Critical and Cultural Theory (2013). The present essay reviews the chapter entitled “Structuralism and Semiotics” in this guidebook, first briefly pointing out its advantages (its readability and pedagogic quality) and then highlighting its theoretical and structural disadvantages, which should have been minimized in the second edition (which is no different from the first).