Structural anthropology  From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search  Structural anthropology is a school
of anthropology based on Claude Lévi-Strauss' idea that
immutable deep structures exist in all cultures, and
consequently, that all cultural practices have homologous
counterparts in other cultures, essentially that all cultures
are equatable.  Lévi-Strauss' approach arose in large part from
dialectics expounded on by Marx and Hegel, though dialectics (as
a concept) dates back to Ancient Greek philosophy. Hegel
explains that every situation presents two opposing things and
their resolution; he called these "thesis, antithesis, and
synthesis." Lévi-Strauss argued that cultures also have this
structure. He showed, for example, how opposing ideas would
fight and were resolved to establish the rules of marriage,
mythology and ritual. This approach, he felt, made for fresh new
ideas. He stated:   Only those who practice structural analysis
are aware of what they are actually trying to do: