Ramsey's Confusing Passage: "What distinguishes the ISAs from the (repressive) state apparatus is the following basic difference: the repressive state apparatus functions "by violence" whereas the ideological state apparatuses function "by ideology".
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I decided to make this cute little meme based on Philosoraptor. I'm not really sure why I wanted it to say that exactly, but to touch again on what your passage says, that there are two apparatus that function together and help fuel one another. Without ideology, there wouldn't be repression and violence. And without violence, there wouldn't be people that strive for the ideological. The ideological is just an image of a utopian state that can never be achieved, but people still try and work towards.
Shens Confusing Passage: "To my knowledge, no class can hold State power over a long period without at the same time exercising it's hegemony over and in the State Ideological Apparatuses"
Here is "Y U NO" rage face. I chose this one because there is no way that you can hold an ideological state apparatus. Think of any group that supports one thing; there is always another group that will fight against those beliefs and choose to repress and argue the standpoint. Take for example the government and our senators. We elect them and they will stay in power as long as we vote for it. If we don't like them, there will be groups that will try and discredit them and if enough people agree with them, their "State power" is taken away. Dictators can rule their country through fear and violence, but there will always be a resistance and total control will never be possible.
Your second meme is really getting at the heart of Althusser's beef with government, and you're right that our government is a good example. I always love that when the former minority party gains control, everyone in the majority fears retribution for the last governmental term (or, sometimes parties are explicit that their actions are meant as punishment or retribution for old actions). Maintaining control means using the repressive arm.
ReplyDeleteSo, here's a question for the dictator example: when "the people" rise up and overthrow a dictator (like Tunisia, Egypt or Canada), do they get to become the ruling class in that action? Or, do you think there's a grey area for a little while to determine who's really in control (and everyone gets to be repressive during that time)?