Who wrote the essay Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses?
Who wrote the essay Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses?
Louis Althusser
“Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes Towards an Investigation)” (French: “Idéologie et appareils idéologiques d’État (Notes pour une recherche)”) is an essay by the French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser. First published in 1970, it advances Althusser’s theory of ideology.
How is ideology made concrete?
Ideology hails or interpellates concrete individuals as concrete subjects by means of the pre-existing category of the subject. It invariably creates subjects and controls them by recognizing them as subject-objects, subjects in relation to objects (or more precisely, in relation to possible object-directed practices).
What is the difference between ISA and RSA?
The differences between the RSA and the ISA are: The repressive state apparatus (RSA) functions as a unified entity (an institution), unlike the ideological state apparatus (ISA), which is diverse in nature and plural in function. What unites the disparate ISA, however, is their ultimate control by the ruling ideology.
What is Althusser’s ‘ideology and ideological state apparatuses’?
Louis Althusser’s renowned short text ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses’ radically transformed theconcept of the subject, the understanding of the stateand even the very frameworks of cultural, political andliterary theory. The text has influenced thinkers such as Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Žižek.
Does an ideology always exist in an apparatus?
An ideology always exists in an Apparatus, and an Ideological State Apparatus is a realization of an ideology. Paradoxically, ideology thus always exists in (precisely that which is) its realization “as a material existence”— of which it is neither cause nor effect.
What are ideological state institutions?
In short, Ideological State Institutions manufacture and institutionalize ideologies necessary for the State to operate. Scary stuff. Thus Althusser argues that ideology is both imaginary and unconscious: it does not reflect reality and is not actively chosen by us.
What are the different types of State Apparatuses?
They include educational institutions, religious institutions, family, media outlets, trade unions, cultural groups, political groups, legal groups etc. In all ideological state apparatuses, the set of ideological discourses at work are always dominated by the ruling ideology.
