ABSTRACT
Whereas Saussure is universally recognized as father figure to the Superstructuralist movement, Durkheim's co-paternity has been largely forgotten. Partly, no doubt, it is the fault of his old-fashioned politics, his curiously conservative brand of 'socialisme', which actually lies closer to Mussolini's syndicalism than to any revolutionary brand of socialism. Yet the French tradition of social anthropology founded by Durkheim was revolutionary; and Durkheim was not unaware of its revolutionary potential. Above all, his attacks upon the concept of the individual self led the way for later Superstructuralists. 'Individuals are far more a product of common life than its determinant. '1 According to Durkheim, the concept of the individual self is a relatively recent and relatively superficial arrival in human history.
