Louis Althusser

Who was Louis Althusser: life and ideology

Louis Pierre Althusser was a French Marxist sociologist and philosopher during the 20th century. He is regarded as an influential sociologist in the theory of Marxism, although he also wrote about politics, ideology, and economics. Althusser's works were heavily influenced by Catholicism, and his ideas combined Marxist and Catholic thinking.

Early life and career

Althusser was born on 16 October 1918 in Algeria, North Africa to a schoolteacher mother and a lieutenant father, who was serving in the French military at the time. Due to his father's work, the family moved to Marseille, France in 1930.

Althusser did well in school and enrolled in a prestigious school called Lycée du Parc. Here, he began to be influenced by Catholic professors, including the philosophers Jean Guitton and Jean Lacroix. Althusser joined a Catholic youth group during his time at this school.

Just before he could attend the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, he was drafted into the army in 1939. Althusser and the rest of his artillery were captured in 1940, and he spent the rest of the war as a prisoner of war in Germany.

Althusser spent a lot of his academic life as a professor of philosophy.

During his time in the prisoner of war camp, Althusser was able to read up on and develop his ideas of communism. Once the war ended in 1945, Althusser rejoined the École Normale Supérieure to prepare himself to take an exam which would qualify him to teach philosophy to French secondary school students.

He passed this exam in 1948 and accepted the position of director of studies at École Normale Supérieure, where he helped other students prepare for the exam he had just passed. He also began teaching philosophy courses.

Althusser worked with many other key French thinkers, including Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault. He remained at the institution for 35 years, working until late 1980.

Alongside his academic work, Althusser was a prominent member and thinker within the French Communist Party.

Mental illness

Throughout his life, Althusser struggled with mental illness. He experienced severe and frequent depression. In the summer of 1980, he had surgery and another episode of mental illness for which he was hospitalised for a large part of the summer. His symptoms continued when he returned to his teaching position.

In November 1980, Althusser strangled his wife, Hélène Rytman, to death and, instead of being arrested, was sent to a mental institute. Upon examination, it was found that Althusser was suffering from hallucinations and depression at the time of the murder, and he was not prosecuted.

He spent the next 10 years in and out of mental institutes and wrote an autobiography and a text attempting to explain the murder of his wife that he was unable to provide during the court process. However, his academic work had largely stopped. Althusser died of a heart attack in a psychiatric hospital in 1990.

Louis Althusser's contributions to sociology

Although Althusser is known to be a sociologist, much of his time was dedicated to being a professor of philosophy and helping students pass their teaching exams. As a result, many of Althusser's sociological contributions to Marxism are dated post-1960.

We will now look at some of Althusser's famous works before considering his ideas in more detail.

Louis Althusser's famous works

Some of Althusser's famous works include:

• For Marx (1965)

• Reading Capital (1965)

• Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (1969) (first published in 1970)

• On the Reproduction of Capitalism (1969) (first published in 1995)

His works have been translated into other languages, such as English and Spanish. However, not all of his work was available to non-French speakers immediately; for example, On the Reproduction of Capitalism was published in English for the first time in 2014.

Louis Althusser and Marxism

Althusser is known to be a structural Marxist and is considered a leading structural Marxist thinker. Structural Marxists argue that social structures influence human action rather than individual motivations.

According to Althusser and other structural Marxists, it is important to research structures of society, not individuals. This contrasts directly with humanistic Marxists, who view individuals as creative and able to shape history through their actions.

Capitalist structure

Traditional Marxism states that capitalist structure consists of two 'levels' - the economic base and the superstructure. The economic base consists of the ownership of the means of production and the relations of production. The superstructure consists of all other institutions; education, religion, media and so on. Whoever owns the economic base also controls the superstructure.

However, Althusser extended this and stated that capitalist structures consist of three 'levels':

• the economic level (which produces goods, services and meets needs)
• the political level (which consists of organisations)
• the ideological level (comprising how people see themselves, each other and the world)

Althusser did not believe that control of the economic level meant control of everything else. He claimed that the political and ideological levels were independent of the economic level, and that these levels also performed crucial functions for the continuation of reproduction.

So, what is the function of the political and ideological level?

Althusser built upon the ideas of Karl Marx.

Louis Althusser: 'Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses'

In a renowned essay titled Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses, Althusser sought to explain how and why those with economic power and control managed to exercise influence.

In this essay, Althusser considered the political and ideological functions performed by the state to keep its subjects under control in the existing structure. He claimed that these had the overall effect of a psychological function.

Althusser proposed the following apparatuses to describe how the state does this.

Repressive state apparatuses

Repressive state apparatuses (RSA) consist of bodies and authorities that can exert physical power to silence rebellion amongst the population. The RSA includes the:

• government

• army

• police

• courts

The RSA helps socialise individuals into following society's rules and punishes any rule-breakers or criminals. In this way, they maintain order and discipline.

Ideological state apparatuses

Ideological state apparatuses (ISA) consist of institutions such as the media, the education system and religion. These work gradually to shape and maintain the way people think so that there is a reduced need for physical means of oppression.

The role of ISA is to influence members of society into a particular way of thinking and behaving. Each institution does this in its own way. Religion teaches us to follow morals, obey authority and avoid conflict. The media teaches us about patriotism and moralism, as well as teaching us about socially acceptable behaviour.

The formation of ideology

The result of the above, according to Althusser, is the formation of ideology.

We become conditioned to accept and continue the ideology of the capitalist system, and as such, we do not question it because we think it is normal. In reality, we have been manipulated to accept this ideology so that we can continue living under capitalism.

Althusser claims that we do not even realise that we hold this ideology; therefore, we are highly unlikely to reject it. For him, the formation of ideology is an important element of capitalism because sometimes sheer force or physical coercion is not enough to contain rebellion or challenges to the social order.

A key term to consider when discussing ideology is interpellation.

Louis Althusser: interpellation

Ideology is, according to Althusser, interpellated by members of society. Let us consider what interpellation is.

Interpellation was a term introduced by Althusser to explain how people accept certain roles and values. When a value or belief is continuously presented to us, we begin to accept it, and eventually, it seems like the natural or logical thing to believe.

However, it is important to note that because we are not forced to accept this value or belief, acceptance is voluntary but subtle. Consequently, we may not even realise that we are accepting external values or beliefs - we may believe that it is simply common sense.

Althusser argued that this is how interpellation works in its ideal form - when individuals do not even think they are being interpellated.

Another example is the interpellated belief that powerful and authoritative bodies (e.g. the government, teachers, parents) are good for us because they protect us and are always trying to do the right thing. If this belief is internalised (interpellated), those who have always had power will continue to have it because society believes this is where power and authority lie.

According to Althusser, interpellation helps to maintain order without physical force.

Interpellation and the ISA

The goal of the ISA, therefore, is to interpellate individuals to believe that they are benefitting under capitalism. A worker may think the following interpellated thoughts:

• Working long hours is good for me because I can bring home more money for my family.

• I am a good worker because I am following all of the rules, and I am proving my loyalty to my boss and my company.

This is no longer seen as someone else's ideology or value, but rather common sense. Individuals are likely to keep doing what they think is advantageous to them.