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• Structuralism - as a mode of social inquiry, is an entirely different way of looking at social and cultural phenomena.
• Post-Structuralism - is a reaction to the former.
• Structuralism, according to Emile Durkheim

  and

  Ferdinand de Saussure, while on the superficial level, there seems to be chaos and disorder in what humans say or do, a closer look will reveal that all these human activities - everyday sociocultural phenomena mean something after all; they truly consistent with the laws and rules of human life and they are highly structured modes of behavior and thinking.
• Langue is the internal structure and logic of a particular language. 
• Langue consists of basic elements, which are called the sign, and has two components: the signifier (symbol) and the signified (idea or concept).
• Saussure believes that it is more of a convention rather than some natural link between the concept and the signifier (symbol). Words may change but the idea remains the same.
• RONALD BARTHES

  He is a French literary theorist, philosopher, linguist, critic, and semiotician.

  Barthes' ideas explored a diverse range of fields and he influenced the development of schools of theory including structuralism, semiotics, social theory, design theory, anthropology, and post-structuralism.
• Ronald Barthes - in his version of structuralism, referred to the langue in society as "text" which is equivalent to a sign in language. 
• CLAUDE LEVI-STRAUSS

  He is a French anthropologist who became famous in the 1950s to 1960s because he applied structuralist theory in the study of culture and society
• Structuralist Theory - has

  largely created a picture of people as dummies, who are prisoners of certain powerful and hidden discourses that try to represent the

  "real" world, say, exploitation in the capitalist system.
• Jacques Lacan (1901-1981) and

  Michel Foucault (1926-1984) would echo post-structuralist principles, in their own respective theories, such as the multiplicity of meanings.
• Lacan suggested that consciousness is like a language that humans learn and imbibe beginning of childhood.
• Foucault believes

  that knowledge , in this case, the analysis of scientific knowledge - does not really progress but is merely replaced by regimes or periods of epistemes.
• FEMINISM

  range of political

  movements, ideologies, and

  social movements that share a common goal: to define,

  establish, and achieve political, economic, personal, and social rights for women that are equal to those of men.
• "agency" or the ability of individuals to make choices, decisions, and actions for themselves to express their free will and independence from structure.
• Structuration - theories aimed at providing a more practical and inclusive picture of the process that shaped modern society, stressing the equal role of and interaction between the two major aspects of social life - the objective and the subjective natures of social phenomenon.
• Practical Consciousness - a phenomenological concept through which people's activities (social phenomenon) are neither totally unconscious (people think and behave automatically and unintentionally because of overarching structures, such as culture, government, and economy among others) nor wholly conscious (people purposively and intentionally act on and think about their situation).
• Social Reproduction - of institutions, values, and system (hence, focus on structure).
• Social Transformation - the forms and avenues through which people

  subjectively create society and social institutions (hence, agency.)
• Pierrie Bourdieu - One of the most important

  French intellectuals of the late 20th century, was very critical of the status quo and the modes in which society was interrogated.
• Status Quo

  The Latin phrase status quo: "prevailing state of affairs" of the current, accepted, and widely practiced system and pattern of doing and thinking in a given society.
• HABITUS- A distinctive and typical mode of behaving, doing, thinking, and acting shared by all members of a given group of people.
• SOCIAL LIFE - It consists of the various bonds they form with others, such as family, friends, members of their community, and strangers. It can be measured by the duration and quality of the social interactions they have on a regular basis, both in person and online.
• THREE (3) TYPES OF CAPITAL IN THE MARXIST CONCEPT

  • Economic Capital
  • Social Capital
  • Cultural Capital
• ANTHONY GIDDENS - He is born in 1938, believes that there should be no dichotomy between

  structure (role of social institution) and agents (role of individual actions) in explaining the nature and mechanisms of society.
• Gidden's main concern

  "agency" or agents who are individual actors acting their own behalf. He believes that agents have range of option upon which they base their decisions and actions.