Louis Althusser
Louis Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher whose structuralist reinterpretation of Marx profoundly influenced political theory, literary criticism, and the social sciences. His concepts of ideological state apparatuses, interpellation, and the 'epistemological break' between the young and mature Marx redefined the relationship between Marxism, structuralism, and the theory of ideology.
Key Ideas
Key Contributions
- ● Developed a structuralist reinterpretation of Marx, arguing for an 'epistemological break' between the humanist young Marx and the scientific mature Marx
- ● Analyzed ideology as material practices instantiated in 'Ideological State Apparatuses' (ISAs) — schools, churches, media — that reproduce the conditions of production
- ● Developed the concept of interpellation: ideology 'hails' individuals as subjects, constituting their identity within the social order
- ● Argued for 'symptomatic reading' — reading a text for what it cannot say, its structured absences and silences
Core Questions
Key Claims
- ✓ There is an epistemological break in Marx's work: the young Marx is humanist and ideological; the mature Marx develops a science of social formations
- ✓ Ideology has a material existence — it operates through Ideological State Apparatuses (schools, churches, media) that reproduce the conditions of production
- ✓ Ideology interpellates individuals as subjects: it 'hails' them, and in responding, they recognize themselves within the ideological framework
- ✓ Society is a complex whole with multiple, relatively autonomous levels (economic, political, ideological) — not a simple base/superstructure model
Biography
Life
Louis Pierre Althusser was born on October 16, 1918, in Birmandreis, French Algeria. He studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris and taught there for decades. His works For Marx (1965) and Reading Capital (1965) made him the most influential Marxist philosopher of his generation. In 1980, during a psychotic episode, he strangled his wife, Hélène Rytmann. He was confined to a psychiatric hospital and declared unfit for trial. He died on October 22, 1990.
Legacy
Althusser's structuralist Marxism, his theory of ideology, and his concept of interpellation remain influential in political theory and cultural studies.
Methods
Notable Quotes
"{'text': 'Ideology interpellates individuals as subjects.', 'source': 'Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses', 'year': 1970}"
"{'text': 'Philosophy is, in the last instance, class struggle in the field of theory.', 'source': 'Lenin and Philosophy', 'year': 1971}"
Major Works
- For Marx Essay (1965)
- Reading Capital Treatise (1965)
- Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses Essay (1970)
- Lenin and Philosophy Essay (1971)
Influenced
- Judith Butler · influence
- Slavoj Žižek · influence
Sources
- For Marx (trans. Ben Brewster)
- On the Reproduction of Capitalism (trans. G.M. Goshgarian)
- Althusser by Luke Ferretter (Routledge)
External Links
Translations
Discussions
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