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The ideological state apparatus (ISA) is a concept formulated by French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser as a part of his structuralist reinterpretation of base-superstructure dialectics. This term refers to various institutions and systems that contribute to the reproduction of the relations of production within a given class society, by generating ideology. Together with the repressive state apparatus (RSA), which involves institutions that use force or coercion to uphold state power, such as the police and military, the ideological state apparatus comprises the state apparatus.[1][2]
Overview[edit | edit source]
According to Althusser, an ideological state apparatus is distinct from what he terms the repressive state apparatus (RSA). While the latter comprises the government, administration, military, police, courts, and prisons, which function primarily by violence or the threat of violence, the former operates on the level of ideology.[3]
ISAs include institutions such as the educational ISA, the family ISA, the religious ISA (the system of the different churches), the communications ISA (press, radio, and television, etc.), the cultural ISA (literature, the arts, sports, etc.), the legal ISA, the political ISA (the political system, including different parties), and the trade-union ISA, which Althusser said was an incomplete list,[4] and noted that in his view only Antonio Gramsci had gone this far as to define the sociological components of society from a Marxist perspective, with him writing 'Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses' in 1970. These institutions defined as ideological state apparatuses play a key role in maintaining and reproducing social relations of production by shaping people's beliefs, attitudes, and values in a way that normalizes and legitimizes the dominant mode of production. This concept aligns with Antonio Gramsci's concept of cultural hegemony.[5]
Functioning[edit | edit source]
Each ISA contributes to the production of ideology in its own way, as a complex interrelated structure of ideological reproduction. For example, the education system is seen by Althusser as the primary ISA in capitalist societies, as it is where individuals are taught the values, attitudes, and beliefs that encourage conformity to the capitalist social order.[6][2]
The family is another ISA which plays a crucial role in shaping a child's initial worldview, installing the primary understanding of authority, hierarchy, and norms. Similarly, the media and cultural sphere generate ideology through representation and the shaping of public discourse.[3]
Althusser further posits that ISAs have "relative autonomy", which means that while they are part of the broader social formation and influenced by the economic base, they are not mechanically determined by it, and are able exert their own influence on social relations.[3]
It can be argued that in the modern day, mainstream social media is one of the primary ISAs.
Examples[edit | edit source]
ISAs encompass a wide range of institutions, practices, and organizations that disseminate dominant ideologies, beliefs, values, and norms within society. Some specific examples of what would be considered ISAs of the US empire are organizations such as:
- The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA): The CIA can be understood as both an Ideological State Apparatus and a Repressive State Apparatus. While its primary function is espionage and intelligence gathering, it is also involved in shaping ideological narratives and perceptions, both within the U.S. and abroad.
- The National Endowment for Democracy (NED): The NED functions as an indirect Ideological State Apparatus by providing funding to various organizations that support democratic development and human rights advocacy worldwide.
- The U.S. Agency for Global Media (USAGM): Through its broadcasting and media activities, the USAGM disseminates information and narratives that align with the dominant U.S. foreign policy objectives and promote US values and interests abroad.
- The Council on Foreign Relations (CFR): The CFR is composed of influential individuals from various sectors, such as business, academia, and media, who shape and promote a particular worldview regarding U.S. foreign policy and global affairs. Through its forums, publications, and policy recommendations, the CFR disseminates ideas and perspectives that align with the interests of the capitalist ruling class. It contributes to the legitimization of US imperialism, neoliberal economic policies, and the promotion of corporate interests in the realm of foreign affairs.
- The Information Research Department (IRD): Now officially defunct, the IRD was a propaganda department of the British Foreign Office, created to publish anti-Communist propaganda, including false flag propaganda, provide support and information to anti-Communist politicians, academics, and writers, and to use weaponized information, disinformation, and “fake news” to attack not only the Soviets, but also Socialist and anti-colonial movements.
These organizations are all part of a larger project of U.S. imperialism; they seek to control the flow of information, undermine independent media, and advance US geopolitical interests in the regions in which they operate. Rather than providing an objective and impartial news source, the media outlets funded and amplified by these organizations are tools of U.S. foreign policy, which help shape the narrative in ways that serve the interests of the U.S. government and its allies.
See also[edit | edit source]
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ “Thus, what has to be added to the ‘Marxist theory’ of the state is something else.
Here we must advance cautiously in a terrain which, in fact, the Marxist classics entered long before us, but without having systematized in theoretical form the decisive advances implied by their experiences and procedures. Their experiences and procedures were indeed restricted in the main to the terrain of political practice.
In fact, i.e. in their political practice, the Marxist classics treated the State as a more complex reality than the definition of it given in the ‘Marxist theory of the state’, even when it has been supplemented as I have just suggested. They recognized this complexity in their practice, but they did not express it in a corresponding theory.
I should like to attempt a very schematic outline of this corresponding theory. To that end, I propose the following thesis.
In order to advance the theory of the State it is indispensable to take into account not only the distinction between state power and state apparatus, but also another reality which is clearly on the side of the (repressive) state apparatus, but must not be confused with it. I shall call this reality by its concept: the Ideological State Apparatuses.
What are the Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs)?
They must not be confused with the (repressive) State apparatus. Remember that in Marxist theory, the State Apparatus (SA) contains: the Government, the Administration, the Army, the Police, the Courts, the Prisons, etc., which constitute what I shall in future call the Repressive State Apparatus. Repressive suggests that the State Apparatus in question ‘functions by violence’ – at least ultimately (since repression, e.g. administrative repression, may take non-physical forms).
I shall call Ideological State Apparatuses a certain number of realities which present themselves to the immediate observer in the form of distinct and specialized institutions. I propose an empirical list of these which will obviously have to be examined in detail, tested, corrected and re-organized.”
Louis Althusser (1971). Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: 'The State; The State Ideological Apparatuses'. - ↑ 2.0 2.1 “1. All Ideological State Apparatuses, whatever they are, contribute to the same result: the reproduction of the relations of production, i.e. of capitalist relations of exploitation.
2. Each of them contributes towards this single result in the way proper to it. The political apparatus by subjecting individuals to the political State ideology, the ‘indirect’ (parliamentary) or ‘direct’ (plebiscitary or fascist) ‘democratic’ ideology. The communications apparatus by cramming every ‘citizen’ with daily doses of nationalism, chauvinism, liberalism, moralism, etc, by means of the press, the radio and television. The same goes for the cultural apparatus (the role of sport in chauvinism is of the first importance), etc. The religious apparatus by recalling in sermons and the other great ceremonies of Birth, Marriage and Death, that man is only ashes, unless he loves his neighbour to the extent of turning the other cheek to whoever strikes first. The family apparatus ...but there is no need to go on.
3. This concert is dominated by a single score, occasionally disturbed by contradictions (those of the remnants of former ruling classes, those of the proletarians and their organizations): the score of the Ideology of the current ruling class which integrates into its music the great themes of the Humanism of the Great Forefathers, who produced the Greek Miracle even before Christianity, and afterwards the Glory of Rome, the Eternal City, and the themes of Interest, particular and general, etc. nationalism, moralism and economism.
4. Nevertheless, in this concert, one Ideological State Apparatus certainly has the dominant role, although hardly anyone lends an ear to its music: it is so silent! This is the School.”
Louis Althusser (1971). Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: 'On the Reproduction of the Relations of Production'. - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Louis Althusser (1971). Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses.
- ↑ “I propose an empirical list of these which will obviously have to be examined in detail, tested, corrected and re-organized. With all the reservations implied by this requirement, we can for the moment regard the following institutions as Ideological State Apparatuses (the order in which I have listed them has no particular significance)”
Louis Althusser (1970). Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: 'The State; State Ideological Apparatuses'. - ↑ A. Gramsci, "Prison Notebooks", "Cultural Topics. I."
- ↑ “That is why I believe that I am justified in advancing the following Thesis, however precarious it is. I believe that the Ideological State Apparatus which has been installed in the dominant position in mature capitalist social formations as a result of a violent political and ideological class struggle against the old dominant Ideological State Apparatus, is the educational ideological apparatus.”
Louis Althusser (1971). Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses: 'On the Reproduction of the Relations of Production'.