Derrida's Deconstruction and Poststructuralism

Jacques Derrida (1930-2004) was the prominent Poststructuralist. He was partly of Saussure’s notion of language as a system of relation. However, he rejected the ideas in Structuralism due to its limitation and rigidity of the relationship between signifier and signified. Later, he proposed the Deconstruction theory which exposed the theoretical limitations of Structuralism.

The Center

            In Poststructuralism, Derrida asserts that a Center is posited in explaining the relations between the minds, the self and the world. The Center is a place which the whole system comes and regulates those systems. It functions as to hold the whole structures in place and keeping the binary oppositions in its proper side of slash.

Binary opposition

            Derrida states that within every structure, there is a binary pair or opposition comprises beneath it. It consists of two items that placed in relation to one another; but, one pair which located nearest to the Center will be given better treatment, cultural values and more rigid and fixed compared to the farther item from the Center. Moreover, one part of the item in binary pairs is marked as positive and the other as negative. In contrast to Structuralism idea that one signifier solely has one signified, Derrida suggests one signifies can have numbers of binaries or signified in the concepts. 

For example:

• Signifier: Girl
• Signified: Long hair, wear dresses, speaks softly, short hair, wear pants and t-shirt,         speaks loudly

Notice the characteristics (in bold) of a girl. According to Derrida, that girl is experiencing a play. Play briefly means that a concept is flexible and can produce more than one meaning. Since the girl is located farther from the center, Therefore, those concepts can be challenged and he calls those oppositions as experiencing a play, where the structures that are farther from the Centre will be in constant shifting and complete movement. Initially, a girl’s characteristic is having long hair, wear dresses and speaks softly. Then, when the concept is challenged, the signifier will not restricted to one signified anymore, hence it creates another signified from the signifier as occurred by the situation of the girl above: non-conventional characteristics of a girl (signified), short hair and t-shirt and speaks loudly (signifiers).