Derrida dismissed the Saussurean hypothesis that language is a stable ‘system of differences’, therewith marking one of the ways in which the transition from structuralism to poststructuralism was made.
The semiology developed by Barthes conceived the social world as a whole as a system of signs, as illustrated by the studies collected in Mythologies
The doctrine of power developed by Foucault is therefore relational, not substantive. Most structuralist and poststructuralist thinkers defend approaches of this type. The concept of ‘rhizome’ developed by Deleuze and Guattari, like the idea of ‘societies of control’, is an example of it.
What Jean Fourastié was subsequently to dub the trente glorieuses – the ‘long wave’ of economic growth following the Second World War – accelerated the rural exodus, raised living standards, generalized leisure and created a ‘new working class’
Now, there clearly exists a Marxism of Sorelian descent, of which Gramsci and Mariatégui, two authors with considerable influence on the new critical theories, count among the representatives
