Hall of Fame

Louis Althusser (1918-1990)

Despite the rather sad end to his life - he murdred his wife and spent his last years in an asylum, Althusser, born in Algiers attempted to reconcile Marxism with structuralism. Like Gramsci, Althusser saw education as the means by which the class system perpetuates itself, stratifying people into workers, the petty bourgeoisie and capitalists. School is a preparation for work and work is the defining characteristic of submission and class. Schools are a means of control by the ruling class and capitalism. The appearance of a meritocracy in schools, he thinks, masks the reality of ideological control.

Ideological State Apparatuses

Education is an Ideological State Apparatus ISA); schools, family, culture, political, legal and unions. These must be distinguished from a Repressive State Apparatus (RSA); army, police, prisons and courts.

Education, as the primary ISA, reproduces the ruling ideology. It does this through grading and assessment, so that the individual strives to achieve what is set as standards of achievement, yet in reality are merely state sponsored selection devices for work and class roles.

Conclusion

He saw himself as providing an improved Marxist analysis of the role of education by identifying it as an Ideological State Apparatus that controls rather than enlightens. However, he avoids interpreting this as a conspiracy or planned phenomenon. It is simply a function of a scientific Marxist analysis of capitalism.

There is some truth in this idea of education perpetuating the myth of ideological positions but the theories are extremely abstract, and those who saw themselves as changing the world through education were to be bitterly disappointed. It was they who were seen to be clinging on to an ideology, which in itself has had its day. With Althusser, Marxist theory in education had run its course. History, a much admired Marxist tool, had proved them wrong.

Bibliography

Althusser, Louis. "Lenin and Philosophy" and Other Essays. London: New Left Books, 1977.

Althusser, Louis. Reading Capital (The Verso Classics Series)

Althusser, Louis. For Marx (Verso Classics, 1)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Althusser Encyclopedia article