The Marxist Understanding of Therelationship Between Ideology and Subjectivity
Cliona Walshe
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Q1. ‘there is no ideology, except by the subject for the subjects’ (Louis Althusser). Interpret Althusser’s statement in relation to the Marxist understanding of the relationship between subjectivity and ideology. You should refer in detail to the Althusser essay, as well as other relevant extracts concerning Marxism and ideology in the Norton Anthology.
Louis Althusser advances Karl Marx’s account of the relationship between subjectivity and ideology in his essay Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. There are some similarities between both Althusser’s and Marx’s thought but both accounts also differ a great deal. First of all they both differ in their conception of the term ideology with Althusser seeing it less pejoratively than Marx. While Marx sees ideology as a method employed by the ruling class of the capitalist system to oppress and exploit the working class, Althusser sees it as a material and objective process that works on an entirely unconscious level. However they both agree that it is ideology which ensures the perpetuation of the capitalist system. They both have very different views with regard to the relationship between subjectivity and ideology. According to Marx the working class are deceived by the Bourgeois ruling class into accepting that they are themselves solely responsible for their life circumstances even if the life circumstances of said working class are less than desirable. While Marx argues that the working class are led to believe that they have control over their own destinies when they are in reality being oppressed by the ruling class, Althusser posits that ideology creates social subjects by interpellating individuals.
The term ‘ideology’ does not have one concrete meaning and as can be seen in Eagleton’s Ideology: An Introduction there are numerous different understandings of the term. The term is understood by some as being good, by some as being bad while others see ideology in neutral
10705263
Q1. ‘there is no ideology, except by the subject for the subjects’ (Louis Althusser). Interpret Althusser’s statement in relation to the Marxist understanding of the relationship between subjectivity and ideology. You should refer in detail to the Althusser essay, as well as other relevant extracts concerning Marxism and ideology in the Norton Anthology.
Louis Althusser advances Karl Marx’s account of the relationship between subjectivity and ideology in his essay Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. There are some similarities between both Althusser’s and Marx’s thought but both accounts also differ a great deal. First of all they both differ in their conception of the term ideology with Althusser seeing it less pejoratively than Marx. While Marx sees ideology as a method employed by the ruling class of the capitalist system to oppress and exploit the working class, Althusser sees it as a material and objective process that works on an entirely unconscious level. However they both agree that it is ideology which ensures the perpetuation of the capitalist system. They both have very different views with regard to the relationship between subjectivity and ideology. According to Marx the working class are deceived by the Bourgeois ruling class into accepting that they are themselves solely responsible for their life circumstances even if the life circumstances of said working class are less than desirable. While Marx argues that the working class are led to believe that they have control over their own destinies when they are in reality being oppressed by the ruling class, Althusser posits that ideology creates social subjects by interpellating individuals.
The term ‘ideology’ does not have one concrete meaning and as can be seen in Eagleton’s Ideology: An Introduction there are numerous different understandings of the term. The term is understood by some as being good, by some as being bad while others see ideology in neutral
Cited: Althusser, Louis. “from Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch et al. New York and London: Norton, 2010. 1335-1361. B. Leitch, Vincent, William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John McGowan, T. Dean Sharpley-Whiting and Jeffrey J. Williams. “Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch et al. New York and London: Norton, 2010. 647-651. B. Leitch, Vincent, William E. Cain, Laurie A. Finke, Barbara E. Johnson, John McGowan, T. Dean Sharpley-Whiting and Jeffrey J. Williams. “Louis Althusser.” The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. Ed. Vincent B. Leitch et al. New York and London: Norton, 2010. 1332-1335. B. Smith, Steven. “Althussser’s Marxism Without a Knowing Subject.” The American Political Science Review Vol.79, No.3 (1985): 641-655. Butler, Judith. “Conscience Doth Make Subjects of Us All.” Yale French Studies No.88 (1995): 6-26. Eagleton, Terry. Ideology: An Introduction. London and New York: Verso, 1991. Larrain, Jorge. Ideology and Cultural Identity: Modernity and the Third World Presence. Great Britain: Polity Press, 1994. Sargent, Lyman Tower. Contemporary Political Ideologies: A Comparative Analysis. Cengage Learning, 2008.