Althusser, Louis (1918–1990)

Louis Althusser was a French structural Marxist and professor of philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure. His work evolved over time, especially because he was subject to the dictates of the Communist Party, of which he was a lifelong member. He defended a version of Marxism that opposed the humanist turn in Marxist thought that came about, especially in France, after the death of Joseph Stalin. Althusser's work is most relevant to the concept of power in his account of ideology.

In Althusser's account, ideology represents an artificial or illusory relationship between individuals and the real conditions of their existence. Ideology also has a material existence beyond ideas that exist within human minds. The first part or “thesis” is a version of the familiar Marxist claim that human exploitation is hidden from people by the ideology under which they live. In Althusser's hands, the relationship between individuals and the real conditions of their existence is complex. Rather than claiming that there is a real material existence, and then there is our representation of that existence—the latter perverted by ideology—he argues that our existence is a consequence of social practices such that individuals are created in the image of the society in which they live. People take on roles determined by their place in the socioeconomic structure and behave in these roles [Page 18]as they are expected to, given the nature or function of the role. Our broader values and desires, however, are implanted in us by ideology that creates people as subjects.

The entire ideology is a collection of institutions Althusser calls ideological state apparatuses, which include the family, religious organizations, social networks, the media, and the educational establishment. Different societies have different ideological state apparatuses, but they all create individuals as “subjects.” He illustrates this by suggesting we become subjects when we react to how others treat us. Our total reaction to social practices is what creates us as a subject. In this sense, it is not that we misperceive a reality: what we perceive of our society is what it is. However, through that perception we do not notice the exploitation and true relations between agents. Althusser believes that this represents the true account of Marx's later vision of the dialectic that breaks the distinction between subject and object.

The second aspect or thesis of ideology is its material existence. The first aspect is designed to privilege structure over agency by making agents—individuals—the creation of society or structures. The second is to take ideology out of the minds of the individuals whose perceptions it perverts and place it into the structure of society itself. Ideology in the material form is composed of the actions of people governed by the state apparatus. In that sense Althusser is a strong determinist: our actions are caused by the structure of society and are then interpreted by us through the roles we are called on to play.

Sometimes individuals or classes pose threats to the dominant structures of society; at such times, what Althusser calls the repressive state apparatus comes into play through systems of law and order, which become increasingly repressive as people attempt to break out of the ideological state apparatus through social disorder and revolution.

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