10/21/12 pre-class

Marx's ideology divided society into an economic base and superstructure. He thought there were political legal level and an ideological level. The relationship between them was indicated as the 'determination in the last instance' by the economic base. Marx argues that there is a 'relative autonomy' of the superstructure with respect to the base, and there is a 'reciprocal action' of the base and superstructure. The problem with this formulation for understanding reproduction is that it is largely descriptive rather than theoretical. This can be seen in Marx's discussion of the state. He believed that the state was a 'machine' of repression, which enabled the ruling classes to ensure their domination over the working class, thus enabling the former to subject the latter to the process of surplus-value extortion. This repressive element of the state is what Althusser calls the State Apparatus and consists of the government, the administration, the army, the police, the courts, the prisons, etc. In addition to this, the state also consists of Ideological State Apparatuses which are a number of realities which present themselves to the immediate observer in the form of distinct and specialized institutions, such as religion, education, the family, media, culture, etc.

What is the difference between the State Apparatus (SA) and the Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA)? First, there is only one SA, but a plurality of ISAs. Secondly, the SA belongs to the public domain and the ISA to the private. And most importantly, the SA functions by violence, whereas the ISA functions by ideology. The ISAs are often the site of class struggle because the class in power cannot lay down the law in the ISAs as easily as it can in the SA, not only because the former ruling classes are able to retain strong positions there for a long time, but also because the resistance of the exploited classes is able to find means and occasions to express itself there, either by the utilization of their contradictions, or by conquering combat positions in them in struggle.