Ideology and New Materialism: Althusser and Zizek

2010

machines, plants…) and reproduced globally (on the level of the world market). The mechanism for supplying this demand must be thought in terms of the circulation of capital producing (1) the means of production and (2) the means of consumption as they relate to the realization of surplus value.

Fabian Review, 2018

Paper delivered at the Historical Materialism Conference 2018, SOAS University of London.

Mediations, 2017

In " e Spectre of Ideology," Slavoj Žižek identifies three axes around which the term ideology has been mobilized: first, "ideology as a complex of ideas (theories, convictions, beliefs, argumentative procedures)"; second, ideology in its material form, in institutions, structures, and even bodily practices; and finally, what Žižek calls "the most elusive domain, the 'spontaneous' ideology at work at the heart of social 'reality' itself." 1 As an example of the second -ideology in its material form -Žižek offers an example of what he means right away, as soon as he names the axis: Althusser's Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs), those set of institutions, coordinated by the State, in which ideology is manifested materially, via the practice or practices of that apparatus. With respect to the third -"spontaneous" understandings of ideologyinstead of an example he provides a cautionary note: "it is highly questionable if the term 'ideology' is at all appropriate to designate this domain -here it is exemplary that, apropos of commodity fetishism, Marx never used the term 'ideology.'" 2 Althusser's On the Reproduction of Capitalism is a detour of a book, bookended by a desire named at the outset and a conclusion (of sorts) reached in the final chapter. We are told in the introduction that the overall aim of the book is to outline "a scientific definition of philosophy"; to reach that goal, there first needs to be a long analysis of how the superstructure functions to reproduce relations of production. Žižek might associate Althusser's ISAs with the materiality of ideology, and the core part of this newly translated book certainly confirms this view. But by the time we make it to the concluding chapter, "On Ideology," it's clear that the careful work of materializing ideology has, at least in part, been undertaken in order to figure its spontaneous operations. At the core of the various articulations that Althusser offers of ideology (with all of their tricky and at times inconsistent metaphors), of its links (at least structurally) to psychoanalysis, of its constitution of subjects -even of the very need for subjects in a discussion of ISAs -is a fascination with a single problem. How is it that subjects "go" -or rather: how is it that they manage to "go

Consecutio Rerum, 2021

I begin this essay by explaining several problems with ideology critique. First, it has a tendency to conflict with or undercut the goals of critical theory (Robin Celikates calls these "political-strategic" problems). Second, the theory of ideology rests on problematic ontological commitments and empirical assumptions. These charges, I argue, offer compelling reasons to reject ideology critique as a component of any emancipatory critical theory. And yet, there continues to be a distinct need for something like ideology critique within any critical social theory; we recognize many instances in which the oppressed seem to work "all by themselves" (i.e., without the direct oversight of an armed slave master) in support of (or at least in harmony with) the status quo. Critical theory seems faced with an impossible choice, then: Either take up an elitist, empirically suspect theory of ideology, or forego an essential critical tool. In the second part of my essay, I diagnose the root of this dilemma: Critical theory in its various radical forms has attempted to supplement a materialist critique of society with an idealist account of social reproduction (the theory of ideology). In order to overcome the contradiction at the heart of (would-be) egalitarian critical social theory, I suggest, we need to move past the idealist account of ideology. This essay argues that, in his work from the mid-1970s on, Althusser sketches out the foundations of just such a materialist theory of ideology. By filling in (and building upon) the foundations left by Althusser, I argue, we can rehabilitate ideology critique as a part of a more radically egalitarian critical theory.

2018

The concept of ideology appears elusive, in it are combined philosophical, political, sociological, historical, epistemological, pedagogical interpretations. This short essay tries to give an interpretation in light of the contribution offered by the reflections of Marx and hermeneutical philosophy and, especially in light of the international phenomena in the Mediterranean and Middle East and recent economic crises, it overcomes the vision of that particular current of late '900 that wanted the era of ideologies as a land no longer fertile and destined for sunset.

Consider, as a final example, the attitude of contemporary American liberals to the unending hopelessness and misery of the lives of the young blacks in American ciries. Do we say that these people must be helped because they are our fellow human beings? We may, but it is much more persuasive, morally as well as politically, to describe them as our fellow Americans -to insist that it is outrageous that an American should live wichout hope.

Association of Academic Researchers and Faculties (AARF), 2021

Ideology plays a significant role in contemporary social and political thinking. It is not always clear what meaning is applied to the term by those who employ it even though it plays a larger part in present-day discussions of various disciplines such as history, sociology, anthropology, political science, communication. It is essential to trace the historical notion of ideology and how it evolved in the minds of various philosophers and theorists. This paper aims to comprehend the term ideology, its history and primarily the notion through the work of these eminent thinkers. The study uses textual analysis and primarily examines the writings of Karl Marx (1818 1883), Friedrich Engels (1820 1895), Antonio Gramsci (1891 1937) and Louis Althusser (1818 1990). The close readings the key texts identity that Marx makes diverse statements on ideology at different points in his career; nevertheless, his most straightforward statement about ideology appears in The German Ideology were he states. rooted in the distinction between coercion and consent as alternative mechanisms of social power. does not then represent the real world, but rules our perception of reality.

2018

The essay referred to herein is in fact a brief summary, precision-cut and sharp to the point, as only the quintessential technocrat can deliver it, of all the issues and problems generations of intellectuals have agonized on for more than a century -and it is prompted by the ongoing bicentennial of Karl Marx' birthday. It is very tempting to offer a brief review given we believe we can make a contribution to better understanding of XIX century's giant of philosophy 1 .

LOUIS ALTHUSSER builds on the work of Jacques Lacan to understand the way ideology functions in society. He thus moves away from the earlier Marxist understanding of ideology. In the earlier model, ideology was believed to create what was termed "false consciousness," a false understanding of the way the world functioned (for example, the suppression of the fact that the products we purchase on the open market are, in fact, the result of the exploitation of laborers). Althusser explains that for Marx "Ideology is [...] thought as an imaginary construction whose status is exactly like the theoretical status of the dream among writers before Freud. For those writers, the dream was the purely imaginary, i.e. null, result of the 'day's residues'" (Lenin 108). Althusser, by contrast, approximates ideology to Lacan's understanding of "reality," the world we construct around us after our entrance into the symbolic order. (See the Lacan module on the structure of the psyche.) For Althusser, as for Lacan, it is impossible to access the "Real conditions of existence" due to our reliance on language; however, through a rigorous"scientific" approach to society, economics, and history, we can come close to perceiving if not those "Real conditions" at least the ways that we are inscribed in ideology by complex processes of recognition.

Graduate Faculty Philosophy Journal, 1991

Ideology plays a significant role in contemporary social and political thinking. It is not always clear what meaning is applied to the term by those who employ it even though it plays a larger part in present-day discussions of various disciplines such as history, sociology, anthropology, political science, communication. It is essential to trace the historical notion of ideology and how it evolved in the minds of various philosophers and theorists. This paper aims to comprehend the term ideology, its history and primarily the notion through the work of these eminent thinkers.