So, why do we find myths from all over the world so strangely similar? Levi Strauss, a French Anthropologist, looked into
the
structures behind the myths to uncover a system of human behavior that is
universal among human beings. Though many more recent anthropologists would disagree with his conclusions, Levi Strauss was one of the leaders of a movement in the 1950s and 60s known as Structuralism. A structuralist anthropologist who greatly influenced anthropology in the 20th Century, Levi-Strauss’ book on the structural study of myth describes how myth is both historical and ahistorical. While myth makes reference to and acknowledges the past, it also exists outside of time and creates a timelessness of where, when the myth is being told, time does not exist. In this way, myths can explain the past, the present and the future all at the same time. Thus, myths remain inside and outside of time. Levi Strauss argues that myth is actually language and because myths have to be spoken to remain in existence, they are languages with the same structures as linguistic thought, with similar cores and roots as other languages. As a structuralist, Levi-Strauss was intent upon creating systems and structures of meaning that worked across cultures and times. Myths however, are variable and constantly changing and so in order to analyze the myth you need to delve beneath the superficial differences and variations of any myth to find the structures of meanings that are embedded within that is universal to all humanity. It is the task, according to Levi-Strauss, of the social scientist to uncover this universal structure which exists in a mostly unconscious, or deeply embedded, form. Though social scientists have moved away from this approach to cultures, Levi Strauss is still essential for any one interested in the field of cultural and social studies.