2 discussions 1 assignment- reserved for someone [[[[[[Part 2]]]]]]]
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Althusser.Ideology.Harrington..pptx“Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses,” by Louis Althusser
presented by Emily Harrington
Learning Objectives
Understand the basics of Marxist theory as they apply to Althusser’s work
Apply Marxist vocabulary and Althusser’s additional terminology (ISA RSA) that he creates/theorizes for the archive
Understand Althusser’s work in relation to institutions and systems of power
Understand Althusser’s theory of ideology and interpellation and how they are key components of operating/reinforcing the dual forces of repressive state apparatuses and ideological state apparatuses
Who is Louis Althusser?
1918-1990
Marxist phliosopher
Thesis & Central Claims
Althusser’s main critical focus in this work is to extend the definition and concept of “ideology” that was proposed by Marx and Engels. He does this in a variety of ways, but primarily he invokes his “contemporary” scholars (like Gramsci and Freud) to add a modern spin and application of the concept.
His first thesis on the state is that in addition to the (repressive) state apparatus/RSA described by Marxist theory, there is also an ideological state apparatus/ISA operating tangentially, and that both of these reinforce and contribute to the power the ruling class has over the working class. The RSA functions by violence, whereas the ISA functions by ideology (253).
His theses on ideology itself, which are also included in the article, are:
“Ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence,” and that “ideology has a material existence,” (256-8).
His self-declared central thesis, derivative of the former: “there is no ideology expect by the subject and for subjects. . .there is no ideology except for concrete subjects, and this destination for ideology is only made possible by the subject: meaning by the category of the subject and its functioning” (261).
Major Concepts
Production, consumption, reproduction, social formation, proletariat and bourgeoisie, and labor-power, as they are defined/utilized by Marxist theorists.
Infrastructure: the economic base of a society (capitalism, feudalism, communism, etc).
Superstructure: on two levels, “the politico-legal (law and the state) and ideology (the different ideologies, religious, ethical, legal, political, etc)” (237).
Indices/index of efficiency: a determination/measure by the infrastructure that defines the status of the superstructure.
(Repressive) state apparatus/“RSA”: the government, the administration, the army, the police, the courts, the prisons; forces used to secure the political conditions for ISAs.
Ideological state apparatus/“ISA”: religious institutions (systems of different churches), education (systems of public and private schools), family, legal, political (the system, including different parties), trade unions, communications (the press, radio, TV, social media), and cultural institutions (literature, art, sports, film); a site of class struggle.
Ideology: “ideology is the system of the ideas and representations which dominate the mind of a man or a social group,” (253).
Interpellation: the method in which an ideology turns “individuals” into subjects
Evidence - Reproduction, RSAs, and ISAs
“Whereas the [RSA] constitutes an organized whole whose different parts are centralized beneath a commanding unity, that of the politics of class struggles applied by the political representatives of the ruling classes in posession of state power, the [ISAs} are multiple, distinct, ‘relatively autonomous’ and capable of providing an objective field to contradictions which express. . .the clashes between the capitalist class struggle and the proletarian class struggle” (247).
Evidence - Ideology
“It is not their real conditions of existence, their real world that ‘men’ represent to themselves’ in ideology, but above all it is their relation to those conditions of existence which is represented to them there. It is this relation which is at the centre of every ideological, i.e. imaginary, representation of the real world” (257).
“What is represented in ideology is therefore not the system of the real relations which govern the existence of individuals, but the imaginary relation of those individuals to the real relations in which they live” (258).
“An ideology always exists in an apparatus, and its practice, or practices. This existence is material. . .[every ‘subject} must ‘act according to his ideas’, must therefore inscribe his own ideas as a free subject in the actions of his materials practice. If he does not do so, ‘that is wicked’. . .the ‘ideas’ of a human subject exist in his actions” (259-260).
Evidence - Ideology, cont’d
“Ideology ‘acts’ or ‘functions’ in such a way that it ‘recruits’ subjects among the individuals (it recruits them all), or ‘transforms’ the individuals into subjects (it transforms them all) by [interpellation of hailing]” (264).
“Ideology has no outside (for itself), but at the same time that it is nothing but outside (for science and reality” (265).
“The child is therefore always-already a subject, appointed as a subject in and by the specific familial ideological configuration in which it is ‘expected’ once it has been conceived” (265).
“All ideology is centred, that the Absolute Subject occupies the unique place of the Centre, and interpellates around it the infinity of individuals into subjects in a double mirror-connexion such that it subjects the subjects to the Subject, while giving them in the Subject in which each subject can contemplate its own image the guarantee that this really concerns them and Him, and that since everything takes place in the Family. . .those who have recognized [the Absolute Subject], and have recognized themselves in Him, will be saved” (268).
Evidence - Ideology, cont’d
“The subjects ‘work’, they ‘work by themselves’ in the vast majority of cases, with the exception of the ‘bad subjects’ who on occasion provoke the intervention of one of the detachments of the [RSA]. But the vast majority of (good) subjects work all right ‘all by themselves’, i.e. by ideology (whose concrete forms are realized in the Ideological State Apparatuses). They are inserted into practices governed by the rituals of the ISAs” (269).
“The ideology of the ruling class does not become the ruling ideology by the grace of God, nor even by virtue of the seizure of state power alone. It is by the installation of the ISAs in which this ideology is realized and realizes itself that it becomes the ruling ideology” (271).
“Ideologies are not 'born' in the ISAs, but from the social classes at grips in the class struggle: from their conditions of existence, their practices, their experience of the struggle” (272).
This is a scene from Black Mirror, in which the protagonist, Lacie, as an interpellated subject to the “likes” based ideology in the episode, faces consequences of the RSA to reinforce her subjectivity. In this society, “like” ideology (imposed by a ruling class) determines passage and mobility of the working class.
In this scene, Lacie’s childhood friend rejects her as her bridesmaid because of her low “likes.” Naomi, part of the ruling class of “4’s and 5’s,” has let the ideology produce her identity as an interpellated subject, and in order to not disobey the Subject (the “likes” system itself) and reduce her class, she has to bar Lacie from attending.
Discussion
Althusser laid the groundwork for the beginning of screen theory; which is the idea that the subject simultaneously creates their identity via and is also a subject/subjected to the film narrative onscreen, and that this process is concealed by the “realism” of a film (the cinematic apparatus). What is at stake in this theory? How does this make film an important aspect of ISAs?
How would social media factor into screen theory? What is the “apparatus” of social media, and more importantly, what constitutes a Subject in this realm?
Works Cited
Althusser, Louis. Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. Translated by Ben Brewster, Verso, 2014. Web.
“Black Mirror S03E01 Airport scene.” YouTube, uploaded by drab2000, 14 Feb 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YrpK90bHO2U.
“What is Emergency Escape Batch?” YouTube, uploaded by ho yi, 10 Nov 2016, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gc9tFcFUqJM.
Image Credits:
Lewis, William. “Louis Althusser.” The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/althusser/. Accessed 28 June 2018.
“Louis Althusser.” Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Ed. 16 May 2013. Web. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Althusser.jpg#filehistory. Accessed 29 June 2018.
