yellowdaisy 4, althuser/marx and engels

In the Althusser reading, he broke down the differences in Ideological State Apparatuses and Repressive State Apparatuses. Althusser defined the ISA as “a certain number of realities which present themselves to the immediate observer in the form of distinct and specialized institutions”. The examples given of churches, schools, families and trade unions also helped clarify exactly what an ISA is. A difference in ISAs and RSAs is that ISAs utilize by ideology while RSAs function through the use of repression which can be violence. What’s important to understand though is that they are not as mutually exclusive as the sound. This is because RSAs, like the police use ideologies secondary like morals, as well, and the ISAs like schools use punishment to gain control too. Another difference is how RSAs belong to public domain like how the army controls the public of places in a broader scale. The ISAs are usually private institutions but whatn really matter is how the institutions whether public or private function best.
The Marx and Engels reading connected to the Althusser reading because similar to the Repressive State Apparatus, they were discussing how the ruling class dominates the ideology of the non ruling class. I found it interesting how “the class which has the means of material production at is disposal, consequently also controls the means of mental production.” This shows how not only the ruling class controls everything because they have the means to, such as weapons or money, but also by controlling how others think. The ruling class sets the norm for others to follow not only by force but by how they use others thinking to agree with them. An example of this can be how celebrities decide what’s in fashion not only through their materials they have like money or connections to get the clothes but also by how they convince others to want it too by the attention they get when they are wearing it.