Les structures sociales sont-elles nécessairement inconscientes?

Based on studies undertaken in Lower Zaire since 1965, this article shows that anthropologists have gradually recognized that social structures were experienced on a conscious level by various Congolese and Zairois peoples. However, structuralism, Marxism, and social sciences in general can only function if we assume that the behaviours observed are subconscious. These theories appear, in the field, to be quite insufficient and damaging. The author concludes by indicating that her own experience among the Téké tsayi has led her to participate in the creation of a new chapter in western science, that is, the chapter of cognition and complex thought.