ChittyChittyBangBang 3/6

"It is not the consciousness of men that determines their social being, but, on the contrary, their social being which determines their consciousness" (37).

I found this quote to be an interesting one to start off the class with... I do believe I subscribe to Marxism in this regard. Different upbringings could result in different degrees of mental freedom although I think that for the most part the media and our surroundings control our consciousness whether we know it or not. Ever since we were born there are certain ideologies, stereotypes, etc...etc... that gets burned into our brains. Whether we agree with them or not, they still influence our way of thinking. I would like to think that this isn't true and that we as a society are stronger than that but I would be deeply impressed if someone could resist the influence of the their environment. It is like the ISA, culture, all of these norms such as religion, education, family, media, etc... make up our culture and how we fit together. We have the same general expectations when it comes to families, education, and jobs. Most of us seem to believe that we need these particular things in order to achieve the American dream.

I also found Althusser's quote, "Those who are in ideology believe themselves by definition outside ideology" (48), very true. People who so claim to be resisting and rebelling against social norms are usually the one's who are subconsciously subscribing to it the most. I believe this is true just out of experiences with this idea. People who often take the time to convince you of something their not are usually that very thing! If someone has to tell you all the time that their not mean for instance, they probably are. I have experienced people denying things like this out of guilt because it is in their subconscious and they don't want to believe that it is true. This may not always be the case but I think it is a common trend that several of us have probably been guilty of at some point.