Binary opposition

A binary opposition (also binary system) is a pair of

related terms or concepts that are opposite in meaning.
Binary opposition is the system by which, in language
and thought, two theoretical opposites are strictly dened
and set o against one another.[1] It is the contrast between two mutually exclusive terms, such as on and o,
up and down, left and right.[2] Binary opposition is an
important concept of structuralism, which sees such distinctions as fundamental to all language and thought.[2] In
structuralism, a binary opposition is seen as a fundamental organizer of human philosophy, culture, and language.

this phenomenon whereby people value one part of a binary opposition over another; we, as living in a certain
culture, think and act similarly in situations when we want
to pick out one of the concepts in the binary oppositions
or while seeking truth or a center. For example, we give
superiority to life rather than death. [9] This suggests that
the cultural setting a reader is a part of may inuence their
interpretation of a work of literature; only one concept,
from the binary opposition, is ready, in our mind, to be
privileged and the other one is usually put aside as having
the second priority. [10] He reached this conclusion by
giving a name to the shared western unconsciousness for
a preferred binary concept- logocentrism. This is the belief that an ultimate reality or centre of truth exists and
that can serve as the basis for all our thought and actions.
This might imply that readers might unconsciously take
side with one concept of binary opposition, and Derrida
traces this reaction as a cultural phenomenon. [11]

Binary opposition originated in Saussurean structuralist

theory.[3] According to Ferdinand de Saussure, the binary
opposition is the means by which the units of language
have value or meaning; each unit is dened in reciprocal
determination with another term, as in binary code. It is
not a contradictory relation but a structural, complementary one.[3] Saussure demonstrated that a signs meaning
is derived from its context (syntagmatic dimension) and
the group (paradigm) to which it belongs.[4] An example
of this is that one cannot conceive of 'good' if we do not
understand 'evil'.[5]

According to Jacques Derrida,[12] meaning in the West

is dened in terms of binary oppositions, a violent hierarchy where one of the two terms governs the other.
Within the white/ black binary opposition in the United
Typically, one of the two opposites assumes a role of States,[13]the African American is dened as a devalued
other.
dominance over the other. The categorization of binary
oppositions is often value-laden and ethnocentric, with An example of a binary opposition is the male-female
an illusory order and supercial meaning.[6] Furthermore, dichotomy. A post-structuralist view is that male can
Pieter Fourie discovers that binary oppositions have a be seen, according to traditional Western thought, as
deeper or second level of binaries that help to reinforce dominant over female because male is the presence
meaning. As an example, the concepts hero and villain of a phallus, while the vagina is an absence or loss.
involve secondary binaries: good/bad, handsome/ugly, John Searle has suggested that the concept of binary
oppositionsas taught and practiced by postmodernists
liked/disliked, and so on.[7]
and poststructuralistis specious and lacking in rigor.[14]

Theory of binaries in Western

2 Deconstruction of Western binathought
ries

A classic example of a binary opposition is the presenceabsence dichotomy. In much of Western thought, including structuralism, distinguishing between presence and
absence, viewed as polar opposites, is a fundamental element of thought in many cultures. In addition, according
to post-structuralist criticisms, presence occupies a position of dominance in Western thought over absence, because absence is traditionally seen as what you get when
you take away presence. (Had absence been dominant,
presence might have most naturally been seen as what you
get when you take away an absence.) [8]

The political (rather than analytic or conceptual) critique

of binary oppositions is an important part of third wave
feminism, post-colonialism, post-anarchism, and critical
race theory, which argue that the perceived binary dichotomy between man/woman, civilized/uncivilised, and
white/black have perpetuated and legitimized Western
power structures favoring civilized white men. In the
last fteen years it has become routine for many social
and/or historical analyses to address the variables of gender, class, sexuality, race and ethnicity.[15] Within each
According to Nasser Maleki, there is another example of of these categories there is usually an unequal binary op1

IN LITERATURE

position: bourgeoisie/working class man; white/people of paired opposites were removed the others precise meancolour; men/women; heterosexual/homosexual.[15]
ing would be altered.[20] Binary opposites, therefore, are
Post-structural criticism of binary oppositions is not sim- at the foundation of all literature. Two examples will exply the reversal of the opposition, but its deconstruction, plore this.
which is described as apoliticalthat is, not intrinsically
favoring one arm of a binary opposition over the other.
Deconstruction is the event or moment at which a bi- 4.1 Examples
nary opposition is thought to contradict itself, and underIn Harry Potter there is the magical and non-magical
mine its own authority.[16]
community, but there are exceptions to these categories in
Deconstruction assumes all binary oppositions need to
which there is no existing category, half-bloods and mugbe analyzed and criticized in all their manifestations; the
gle (human) born (paradigm). The evil wizard Voldemort
function of both logical and axiological oppositions must
seeks to eradicate these that do not t within these catebe studied in all discourses provide meaning and valgories as he believes there should only be fully-edged
ues. But deconstruction does not only expose how oppomagical and non-magical community. This leads to a
sitions work and how meaning and values are produced
binary system in which what Voldemort is insisting on
in a nihilistic or cynic position, thereby preventing any
creating is a world where the fully-edged pure-blooded
means of intervening in the eld eectively. To be efwizards are the favoured of the binary opposites (purefective, and simply as its mode of practice, deconstrucbloods as opposed to half-bloods and muggle-born) and
tion creates new notions or concepts, not to synthesize
the muggle-born and half-blood are the disfavoured of the
the terms in opposition but to mark their dierence, untwo. With the ideology of the pure bloods being pursued
[17]
decidability, and eternal interplay.
it would leave to the bias and cultural change that there
is only one distinction between classes, the categories are
only pure blooded members of the magical community
or non magical.
3 In relation to logocentrism
Logocentrism is an idea related to binary opposition that
suggests certain audiences will favour one part of a binary opposition pair over the other. This favouritism is
often most strongly inuenced by a readers cultural background. The strong patriarchal themes in 'The Women
and the Pot', an Amharic folktale, would be one such example of logocentrism. This tells the story of two women
who are upset at their diminished role in society, and who
consequently go to their King for help. He eectively
conveys the message that women cannot be relied upon
to take on a greater role in society, which becomes the
moral of the tale. Prasad explains this idea; The logocentric value is seen through the 'Eternal Knowledge'
the naturalness of male superiority that is conveyed
through the folktale. The hidden a priori binary opposition is 'Man over Woman'. [18] In relation to the cultural heritage of an audience having an inuence on their
unconscious preference for one part of a binary opposition, Prasad says; By way of studying a selection of
Ethiopian folktales, the paper uncovers the presence of
logocentrism and a priori binary opposition being at work
in Ethiopian folktales. These two elements attempt to
endorse and validate the 'given' subservient position of
women in society.[19]

In literature

Vampire Academy, a series of novels by Richelle Mead,

draws upon the conventional binary ideologies of Western culture, whether intentional or not. There are Strigoi
inherently evil vampires conned to the night and Moroi and dhampir, weaker vampires who can venture into
daylight. The novels play upon the binary opposition theory and its secondary levels; night and day are: evil/good,
other/normal, disliked/liked, ugly or handsome. The evil
Strigoi vampires attempt to vanquish the Moroi throughout the novels, signifying a binary system in which the
strong would dominate and exploit the weak. Meads use
of the binary system presents readers with an example of
how dangerous it is for one group to possess such power,
and how it may result in evil deeds.
On the contrary, Harper Lees To Kill A Mockingbird disrupts this conventional twofold hierarchy by utilizing the
second level of binaries. Lee has broken the illusion that
black is bad and white is ultimately good. The plot
focuses on a case involving a black man Tom Robinson who is accused of raping a white woman, Mayella.
Mayella, with her bruises and ethnicity as a defence, is believed by the townspeople instantly. The novel explores
concepts of racism and stereotyping with the help of the
binary system. In the end it is revealed that Mayella lied
and her father was the one who beat her. In the context
of the story, however, racism still prevails. The binary
system, however, highlights the injustice of preconceived
connotations attached to race and colour.

In addition, binary opposition was explored in childrens

Binary opposition is deeply embedded within literature as literature and it was found that authors were reinforcing
language, and paired opposites, rely upon a relation with Westernized images and philosophies of feminism via the
adjoining words inside a paradigmatic chain. If one of the binary hierarchy.[21] Western authors were creating a rep-

3
resentation of non-Western countries based on colonial [12] Derrida, Jacques (1992). Positions. p. 41.
discourse, using binary oppositions to categorize human
behaviour into one term or another not both. The non- [13] Hogue, W. (2008). Radical democracy, African American subjectivity and John Edgar Widemans Philadelphia
Western woman, therefore, was the opposite or other
Fire. Melus 33 (3): 48. doi:10.1093/melus/33.3.45.
[21]
to women and girls from the West.
Thus, Western
authors are establishing imperialist binaries between cul[14] In 1983, American philosopher John Searle reviewed
tures, with the us/other binary opposition alongside that
Johnathan Cullers On Deconstruction: Theory and Critof the men/women. Doing so is not only undermining the
icism after Structuralism for the New York Review of
entire ideology of feminism, but is also revealing of how
Books, writing,
societies work: in binaries.

See also
Dichotomy
Gender binary
Opposite (semantics)
Polarization (politics)
Yin and yang

Notes

[1] Smith, G. (1996). Binary opposition and sexual power in

Paradise Lost. Midwest Quarterly 27 (4): 383.
[2] Baldick, C 2004. The concise Oxford Dictionary of literary terms, viewed 8 March 2011, http://www.highbeam.
com/doc/1056-binaryopposition.html
[3] Fogarty, S 2005, The literary encyclopedia, viewed 6
March 2011, http://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?
pec=true&UID=122
[4] Lacey, N 2000, Narrative and Genre, p.64, Palgrave, New
York.
[5] Lacey, N 2000, Narrative and Genre, p. 65, Palgrave,
New York
[6] Goody 1977, p. 36
[7] Fourie, Pieter (2001). Media Studies Volume 2: Content,
Audiences and Production. Lansdowne: Juta Education.
[8] Britannica 2011, Binary opposition, viewed 9 March
http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/
2011,
65552/binary-opposition
[9] Maleki, Nasser. Contextualising Kathleen Raines selected poems in the light of Derridean midel of deconstruction. Journal of Language and Literature 5 (2): 67.
[10] Maleki, Nesser. Contextualising Kathleen Raines selected poems in the light of Derridean model of deconstruction. Journal of Language and Literature 5 (2): 68.
[11] Maleki, Nesser. 5. Contextualising Kathleen Raines selected poems in the light of Derridean model of deconstruction. Journal of Language and Literature 5 (2): 68.

In Cullers book, we get the following examples of knowledge and mastery [attained
from analysis of binary opposites and deconstruction]: speech is a form of writing (passim), presence is a certain type of absence (p.
106), the marginal is in fact central (p. 140),
the literal is metaphorical (p. 148), truth is
a kind of ction (p. 181), reading is a form
of misreading (p. 176), understanding is a
form of misunderstanding (p. 176), sanity is
a kind of neurosis (p. 160), and man is a form
of woman (p. 171). Some readers may feel
that such a list generates not so much feelings of mastery as of monotony. There is in
deconstructive writing a constant straining of
the prose to attain something that sounds profound by giving it the air of a paradox, e.g.,
truths are ctions whose ctionality has been
forgotten (p. 181).
[15] Dunk, T 1997, 'White guys: studies in post-modern domination and dierence', Labour, vol. 40, p. 306, (online
Infotrac).
[16] One sometimes gets the impression that deconstruction
is a kind of game that anyone can play. One could, for
example, invent a deconstruction of deconstructionism
as follows: In the hierarchical opposition, deconstruction/logocentrism (phono-phallo-logocentrism), the privileged term deconstruction is in fact subordinate to the
devalued term logocentrism, for, in order to establish
the hierarchical superiority of deconstruction, the deconstructionist is forced to attempt to represent its superiority,
its axiological primacy, by argument and persuasion, by
appealing to the logocentric values he tries to devalue. But
his eorts to do this are doomed to failure because of the
internal inconsistency in the concept of deconstructionism
itself, because of its very self-referential dependence on
the authority of a prior logic. By an aporetical Aufhebung,
deconstruction deconstructs itself. Searle, ibid.
[17] Cf., Jacques Derrida, Positions (The University of
Chicago Press, 1981), pp. 41-43
[18] Prasad, A. 8. Logocentrism and a priori Binary Opposition vis-a-vis Women. Politics in Ethiopia Folktales- A
Study of Selected Ethiopian Folktales. Fabula 48 (1-2):
108.
[19] Prasad, A. 8. Logocentrism and a priori Binary Opposition vis-a-vis Women. Politics in Ethiopia Folktales- A
Study of Selected Ethiopian Folktales. Fabula 48 (1-2):
108.

[20] Barry, P., 2009. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to

Literary and Cultural Theory. 3rd ed. New York, USA:
Manchester University Press.
[21] Varga-Dobai, K., 2013. Gender Issues in Multicultural
Childrens Literature - Black and Third-World Feminist
Critiques of Appropriation, Essentialism, and Us/Other
Binary Oppositions. Multicultural Perspectives, 15(3),
pp. 141147.

References
Goody, Jack (1977). The Domestication of the Savage Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
ISBN 978-0-521-29242-9.

REFERENCES

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