deconstructionism
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˌdiːkənˈstrʌkʃənɪzəm/
- Formal
:
deconstruccionismo
- Deconstructionism proceeds through the recognition and inversion of crucial hierarchies (male/female, first world/third, center/the margins).
- deconstructionism and postmodernism
Examples
-
By responding as they did, however, they disclosed the intellectual and moral bankruptcy of deconstructionism, with the result that few literary theorists today are willing to be associated with it.
Academic text (1997) -
Deconstructionism was brought to America by the Belgian-born Paul de Man (among others).
Academic text (1997) -
As I said, I take deconstructionism to be the revolutionary arm of postmodernism.
Academic text (1995) -
Some of his professional enthusiasms, like postmodernism and deconstructionism, are fancies already passed.
Academic text (2005) -
I'll call this dimension deconstructionism; it is deconstruction flexing its political muscle.
Academic text (1995) -
Lately, a new test has been imposed in many departments: submission to the intellectual orthodoxies that go broadly by the name of "deconstructionism."
Academic text (1997) -
The chief proponents of deconstructionism are the new celebrities of academia who benefit greatly from its largesse and command prestigious positions.
Academic text (1995) -
But it is, as already indicated, precisely this dual aspect of deconstructionism—revolutionary intent combined with disingenuous insouciance—that attracts academic intellectuals.
Academic text (1995) -
From reader-response theory to Foucault's interpretive analytics and Derrida's deconstructionism, Cherryholmes discusses avenues for research that have the potential for moving social studies ideas beyond the stage at which they have stagnated for so long.
Academic text (1990) -
The course on deconstructionism taught us to look for hidden meanings in complex texts.
Synonyms
5
9.4
A way of reading texts that finds hidden conflicts and meanings
Surface Forms
Morphology
deconstructionism = deconstruction (semi-transparent) = deconstruction + ism
The suffix '-ism' clearly marks a doctrine or movement, but the core term 'deconstruction' is a specialized philosophical term whose full meaning is not predictable for an average B1 learner.
Etymology
Deconstructionism comes from the parts de- meaning 'undo' and construction meaning 'building', and you can see the same root in construct. So, a helpful way to remember it is that the theory 'takes apart' texts to find hidden contradictions and show how meanings were built.