Structuralism is a way of thinking about the world which is predominantly concerned with the perceptions and description of structures. At its simplest, structuralism claims that the nature of every element in any given situation has no significance by itself, and in fact is determined by all the other elements involved in that situation. The full significance of any entity cannot be perceived unless and until it is integrated into the structure of which it forms a part. Structuralists believe that all human activity is constructed. It is not natural or "essential". Consequently, it is the systems of organization that are important.
Post-structuralism may be understood as a critical response to the basic assumptions of structuralism. Structuralism studies the underlying structure inherent in cultural products (such as tests), and utilizes analytical concepts from linguistics, psychology, anthropology and other fields to understand and interpret those structures. Although the structuralist movement fostered critical inquiry into these structures, it emphasized logical and scientific results. Many structrualists sought to integrate their work pre-existing bodies of knowledge. This was observed in the work of Ferdinand De Saussure in linguistics, Claude Levi-Strauss in anthropology, and many early 20th century psychologists.
The general assumptions of post-structuralism derive from the critique of structuralist premises. Specifically, post-structuralism holds that the study of underlying structures is itself culturally conditioned and therefore subject to myriad biases and misinterpretations. To understand an object (e.g. open of the many meanings of a text), it is necessary to study both the object itself, and the systems of knowledge which were coordinated to produce the object. In this way, post structuralism positions itself as a study of how knowledge is produced.
