"Ideology Never Says, 'I am ideological.' " Pre Class 3-15-10

The quote in the title (48) is just one of my favorite saying from the famous Althusser. Ideological State Apparatuses, repressive state apparatuses, interpellating: it's all too reminiscent of CMC 100. But seriously, let's try to break down this quote.

"Ideology never says, 'I am ideological' " (48). An outsider may look at this quote and wonder why ideology is having an identity crisis (horrible joke). Honestly, this is like me saying, "Jackson never says, 'I am Jackson.' " That's the literal approach. After that quote Althusser continues to write that we must look at ideology with scientific knowledge to realize we are in ideology. In other words, we must critically examine our lives to know what ideologies are effecting us. In other words, Althusser refers to this "scientific knowledge" as the same critical approach we study and learn in CMC.

So back to the first quote. Ideology does not question itself. Example: an ISA - Christianity. Does Christianity question or contradicts its own fundamental beliefs? I don't think so. Rather, Christianity opens its core beliefs to the public so they can spread their ideology (interpellation). Christianity, as an ISA, will never admit it is ideological or an ideology. It simply exists to interpellate.

That's what I learned from Papa Althusser the second time reading this piece. As always, I welcome any feedback.