We will begin by exploring the work of structuralist thinkers such as Ferdinand de Saussure, Claude Levi-Strauss, Louis Althusser, and Jacques Lacan. Their work addresses the deep structures of signs, language, political economy, cultural production, and the psyche. We will consider the way poststructuralist thinkers, such as Barthes, Foucault, Deleuze, and Derrida criticize and transform structuralist interpretations of subjectivity, language and the political.