The relation between Structuralism and poststructuralism is a relation of extension , critique and antithesis. From De Saussure's structuralist thought to Derrida's deconstruction-based poststructuralist philosophy, it is a linguistic vision that thinks the relation between the Signifier and the Signified, simplistically put, the relation between the word and the world. While Saussure does talk about 'pure difference' between signifiers in a language and also the arbitrariness of the sign, he nevertheless, thinks that there is a structure (order, unchaotic) in language which comes from the general system of Lang and plays its role in controlling the arbitrary problematic of the parole.
In the poststructuralist ambit, it is this 'pure difference' that is absolutized by Derrida who thinks that the Signifieds unreachable and similarity is not the operative process of language. He, in turn talks about a 'free play' of signifiers which proliferate endlessly. The 'transcendental signified' is an absence and the signifiers keep differing and deferring in a quest to reach their Signified, never to be. This is how the centre is dislodged from the structure as it is seen to be located both within and without. This decentring and a radical Differance of meaning clarify the point of contrast between Structuralism and Poststructuralism.
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