© 2019 Steve Campsall

So, for structuralists, meaning is created in the difference between two binary opposites and at the level of an ideological cultural idea. These ideas are learned and absorbed as we grow up within our particular culture; of course, we see them not as what they are, cultural constructs, but as 'real', 'natural' or 'obvious' - as, quite simply, too obvious to question.

• Of course, many meanings, such as, "That's a tree!" matter very little at an ideological level; but take for example the statement, "It's not fair!" Here the binary pair fair/unfair is more clearly operating at an ideological level because the meaning of 'fair' depends upon social aspects such as who you are and  your status within society.

Ideas such as heroism and cowardice as well as fair and unfair can be said to exist as a part of a cultural framework within which the definition of who is a hero and who a coward, what is fair and what is unfair is created.