Levi-Strauss posited a universal unconscious faculty of signification across cultures

Evidence

In the myriad arrangements which this produced in different cultures, Lé vi-Strauss identified the trace of a universal activity, common to the primitive bricoleur and the modern engineer alike. This was the activity of making things mean the collective, unconscious activity of signification. Just to complete—and confuse—the circle, he called this universal faculty “l’esprit humain .” — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 358

Categorization

• XREF: The bricoleur/engineer universal-signification point feeds Hall’s later treatment of encoding/decoding — where the unconscious signification claim gets profitably challenged.