I found many of the points Althusser made to be difficult to understand but interesting at the same time. Although the language he uses takes a bit of rereading to really grasp, the things he says, once they strain a little bit of understanding out of me, are some interesting points. What was a little aggravating was the constant question asking, but at the same time this was helpful because it made me focus on those specific things he asked about. But, on the other hand, with these questions, at times I was waiting for an extensive, easy to understand, description of certain things after the way he introduces them at that was never what I got.
The most frustrating of these questions was, “What do children learn at school?” (1485). Being I’m an education major this really caught my eye. I was waiting for him to answer this intense question with something ravishing and instead we get, “they learn to read, write, and to add–i.e. a number of techniques, and a number of other things as well…Thus they learn ‘know-how’” (1485). Well, DUH!!! I know kids learn to read, write, and add. I could have told Althusser that, but I guess the real importance of what he was discussing was that these skills children learn in school are what get them a specific job in the future.
This ‘reproduction of labor power’ was also very interesting. The whole necessary wages for the reproduction of labor seems to me like he’s really trying to say, the labor you put into working doesn’t result in making money. It’s almost as though he’s saying, people work hard for money but the two really aren’t related. Well, if I understand this at all, looks like I should forget about getting a job. In connection with this he draws in the (repressive) state apparatus and the ideology state apparatus. Since, “the state is a ‘machine of repression’” (1487) the working class is completely taken over by the state, or ‘the state apparatus’. Althusser constantly relates the state and its power as repressive and violent.
What I don’t understand though, is why he has such an obsession with state power? He repeats a lot that the ruling class has all the power, but I don’t understand what makes this significant. What’s interesting though, is that he relates the government, police, courts, and the military as the repressive state apparatus/violence, probably because each of these high standings are forceful. But, the ideological state apparatus is small systems like the school and church which is run by ideology rather than violence. The repressive state apparatus makes up one state apparatus while there are a number of ideological state apparatus’.
Most of what Althusser explains can be clear and interesting if it is closely read. He makes a lot of fascinating points but I can’t seem to understand why, exactly, this is important? This is when I consulted Barry. Barry describes the ISA and RSA as a whole which I didn’t grab from what Althusser wrote. Barry describes the RSA as state power and the ISA as state control. He puts the two together by saying that state power is controlled by the government, but at the same time the power of the state “is also maintained more subtly, by seeming to secure the internal consent of its citizens” (Barry, 164).
Barry is useful in breaking down much of what Althusser says into something that is easier to understand. He explains that what Althusser is trying to do is to create a more subtle view of society. This helped me grasp why Althusser says certain things and how they all relate.
