Final answer:
Claude Lévi-Strauss used structuralism to analyze culture, seeing it as constructed from universal symbolic categories and structured by binary oppositions. Through examining myths and cultural narratives, he revealed patterns that reflect overarching human cognitive structures.
Step-by-step explanation:
French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss applied the principles of structuralism to analyze and interpret culture. He posited that cultures universally define themselves in opposition to what they view as nature, with a systemic categorization of symbolic elements present across various cultural expressions such as myths, religion, kinship, and social practices. Lévi-Strauss's focus on the underlying symbolic categories essential to human thought allows researchers to decipher cultural phenomena by examining the binary oppositions, such as nature vs. culture, that are robust within cultural narratives.
Central to his analysis was the idea that culture could be seen as a system of symbols with the binaries and structures operating universally across human societies. For Levi-Strauss, animals are an example of such symbolic systems; they're "good to think" and provide insights into human self-conception. By breaking down myths and other cultural products into fundamental components, Lévi-Strauss sought to reveal the shared structural patterns of human cognition and social practice.