Post Class Post - Althusser

Last week in class we read and discussed works written by several different theorists: Jenkins, Marx, and Althusser. I've said it before but the material we covered this week related a lot to one of my electives that i'm in this fall: Ideology and Mass Culture. I particularly enjoyed how Althusser focused on ideology; I always feel like ideologies are emotional topics/notions because they eventually come down to power, who has it and who doesn't and in our nation we don't like to talk too much about that.

I have learned that it's in the best interest of the ruling class in the U.S. to make sure that we all believe in the various ideologies that have been injected into our society. As long as we have hope and the belief that some sort of favorable return or social mobility will come from all our hard work, they will remain in control. It's once we realize that we're hopeless and have to resist that these ideologies become targets. However, because those who are wealthy/in power never really seem to lose, our efforts can only be so effective. It's what's around us and various pre-determined factors that control who we are. That's why I liked Althusser's quote when he said "it is not the consciousness of men that determines their being, but, on the contrary, their social being which determines their consciousness" (38).

I also liked how Dr. Tillmann further explained Althusser's notions of the RSA/ISA's...I remembered that they were important from past cmc classes but had forgotten which social institutions belonged in which spots. From our lecture I gathered that the RSA includes Gov., Courts, Prisons, the Police and the Army...and that the ISA includes Family, Religion, Education, Media, Culture, Union, Legal/Political.