Graham..Althusser, Marx

I feel that the readings had a lot to do with ideologies. The ideologies determine the way that we live our lives, because they tell us who we should marry, what we should become, where we should live…etc. The author mentions that these are false in a sense. I believe that this means that how could something be real when it is something that society made up? But ideologies have become so important in our lives, that we are not satisfied if we do not accomplish these things in our lifetime.
From this reading I got the impression that he was attempting to say that the “ruling class” is basically in charge of the thinking process that occurs in society, and this is their only job. They create the ideologies and ideas that the mainstream should follow and live by. The job of the working class is to take care of everything else. In order for the society to work properly, everyone is required to do their part (this reminded me of a machine. If one part isn’t working properly, it is not going to work). The society will ultimately fail if everyone is not on the same page with their roles.
Another quote that I found interesting was "Ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence". I believe this relates to previous readings we have studied this semester, saying that in order to understand something, we must know background knowledge on it. For instance, I can say that I know the boy who sits next to me in math class, because I see him every day. But do I know why he says the things he does based on where he is from, his political views, religion…etc. Therefore we have a somewhat “imaginary” relationship, because I am not aware of the information I would need to fully understand him.