Ideology

Ideology is the mental lens through which the subject interprets his social-material condition. Ideology encompasses such fields as art, family, culture, religion, philosophy, media, and education.

Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Vladimir Lenin and others, like Mao Zedong, all discuss ideology within the context of the class struggle, including critique of ruling class ideology, revisionism, and the need for a revolutionary proletarian ideology. However, a deeper dive into the mechanical function of ideological structures, and their role in the reproduction of a mode of production, was most prominently outlined by Louis Althusser in his essay Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (1970).

Althusser emphasized that ideology is not just a collection of ideas, but is profoundly material, existing in the practices, rituals, and institutions that make up social life. In this way, ideology is continually lived and experienced, shaping and being shaped by the social realities of individuals. In this conceptualization, ideology is perpetuated and reinforced works through ideological state apparatuses, or various institutions like family, education, media, etc., that reproduce ideology and, in doing so, reproduce the existing social order.

Ideological state apparatuses

See main article: Ideological state apparatus

Ideological state apparatuses are institutions such as the education system, the family, the church and mass media, including news and entertainment media. These institutions are distinct from what Althusser terms the repressive state apparatus, which exert their control through the explicit threat of violence; this includes the military, police, and prison systems, among other things.

Together, the ideological state apparatus and repressive state apparatus form "the state apparatus", or more commonly, the state-- the system that a ruling class uses to exert dictatorship over the other class(es).

Interpellation

Interpellation is a concept developed by Marxist-Leninist philosopher Louis Althusser to explain the process through which ideological superstructure helps shape and sustain the social formation. In essence, it is about how we as individuals are made to understand our roles and positions in society, and how these roles are reproduced and reinforced.

In the system of interpellation, ideological state apparatuses generate a complex web of ideological content embedding subjects within social, political, and economic systems, which help reproduce the existing social order.

The process of interpellation involves the subject recognizing themselves in the ideology presented to them. For instance, when a person internalizes a social role (like being a teacher, student, or parent) based on the norms and expectations communicated through ideological state apparatuses, they are being interpellated. The power of interpellation lies in its invisibility, as it occurs so naturally and ubiquitously that it seems like a part of our natural existence.

The subjects, according to Althusser, are "always-already interpellated", meaning that they are born into a world already structured by ideology. Even before an individual starts to self-identify or perceive themselves as a subject, they are already positioned within an ideological framework.

This interpellation is not a one-time process but a continuous one, where subjects are constantly 're-interpellated' into different roles and identities. The process of interpellation is therefore one of the essential ways that a given class dictatorship maintains relative order. By interpellating individuals into specific roles and identities, ideologies play a crucial role in reproducing the conditions and relations of production, thereby reinforcing the status quo.

See also

• Ideological state apparatus
• Base and superstructure