... 'the O'ahu order was present as a structural condition. In order to fully comprehend the author's assertion, it is important to consider his theoretical background and place his work in an intellectual context. Sahlins is considered a neo-structuralist. Structuralism is an intellectual movement that stems most directly from the works of Ferdinand de Saussure and Roman Jakobson which principally argues that units of meaning in language are constituted as a system of differences, each unit therefore not having inherent value but rather achieving value thanks to its distinctiveness from other units of the system. The leading anthropological exponent of this theory is Levi-Strauss who says that just as sound systems function in terms of systems of contrast, so too does mental and cultural systems. Therefore terms must be looked at not in isolation but in terms of being built up from elementary or binary oppositions - for example nature/culture, right/left are ...

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