1. An RSA refers to institutions like the government, police, military, and judiciary that enforce order through direct coercion or repression.
2. ISAs are institutions that spread the dominant ideology and encourage people to accept it willingly. Examples: News, Media, Churches, Schools

1. Repressive state apparatus is organization that enforces control through force for example the army or the police. Althusser calls them repressive because these kind of organizations use their physically power to force you to stop something. For example the police use their force and power to stop people from vandalizing at a protest.
2. Ideological state apparatus are organizations like schools, the media and religious beliefs that influences people. They influence people by changing their perspectives on certain things to maintain control.
3. The difference between repressive and ideological state apparatus is that repressive state uses physical force and power to control while Ideological state influences through ideology.
4. https://youtu.be/BjZo5EIRZZ4 in the movie Fury the military soldiers uses violence to maintain control during their time at war and follows the governments orders.

1. A Repressive State Apparatus is when you are controlled through the fear of enforcement, which includes things such as the police, courts and prison. Althusser calls it repressive because the enforcement restrains the amount of freedom and choices that people can actually make within their lives. You don’t really have a choice that you can make when the threat of enforcement exists should you fail to comply with authority. An example of this would be someone seeing a sign on a bus that says “Assaulting MTA New York City Transit personnel is a felony punishable by up to 7 years in prison”. This person would then fear even the idea of attacking a MTA staff since they wouldn’t want to go to prison for 7 years.
2. The Ideological State Apparatuses are the natural thoughts and ideas that you are exposed to on a daily basis that you want to emulate in order to live a life that is deemed “normal”, which maintains the status quo. The way that it works is that multiple options are presented within many different aspects of life (politics, advertising, entertainment, etc) in order to give people the feeling that their choices matter and will greatly affect their position within their life, however, it turns out that these choices are simply an illusion that doesn’t change much within a person’s life within the grand scheme of things and ultimately keeps them within the status quo that has been established by the authority.
3. The difference between Ideological and Repressive State Apparatuses is that Ideological State Apparatuses are the ideas and thoughts within society that maintain status quo through people wanting to follow them naturally (since most people just want to live out their lives and feel “normal”) while the Repressive State Apparatuses are the fields of enforcement that come out when people aren’t following the status quo (while also being around to show to everyone what happens to those who do rebel against the authority).
4. The example that I have posted is a No Trespassing sign that mentions that those who do will be subjected to arrest. I feel that this is an example of a Repressive Ideological Apparatus, since it shows the threat of enforcement via the police should you not comply with the authority of that property.

1. What is a Repressive State Apparatus?

A Repressive State Apparatus includes institutions that use force or threats to keep people in line and enforce laws. Althusser calls it “repressive” because it controls people through direct, physical means. For example, the police are a a repressive state apparatus because they have the authority to arrest people and use force if necessary to maintain public order and ensure laws are followed.

2. What are Ideological State Apparatuses?

Ideological State Apparatuses are institutions that shape our beliefs and values without using force. These include things like schools, media, and religious organizations. They influence how we see the world and what we think is important by promoting certain ideas and norms. For example, schools teach not just academic subjects but also social values and behaviors, helping to shape our understanding of how society works.

3. What is the difference between Repressive and Ideological State Apparatuses?

The main difference between these is in how they exert control. Repressive State Apparatuses use direct force and authority to enforce laws and maintain order, like the police or the military. They manage behavior through actions that involve physical power. Ideological State Apparatuses, on the other hand, influence people’s thoughts and values in a more subtle way. They shape how we think about things like culture, politics, and social norms through education, media, and religion, without using physical force.

4. Example of Ideology

A public service announcement by the Florida department of health promoting the benefits of healthy eating. This PSA is an example of an Ideological State Apparatus at work. It influences people’s beliefs about health and encourages them to adopt certain behaviors, like eating nutritious foods. It does this through persuasion and providing information, rather than using force, to shape how people think about their health and lifestyle choices. The link is attached below.

Okay, let ‘s go to the questions, consider the following:

1. What is a Repressive State Apparatus? Why does Althusser call it “repressive”? Can we explain his choice of words here. Give an example.

2. Let’s do the same for the Ideological State Apparatuses. What are they, how do they seem to work?

3. Important: this question will appear on our exam: How are the Repressive and Ideological State Apparatuses different from each other? What is the difference between the two?

4. Post an example of ideology. This could be a piece of writing, an image, video, pdf document, visual art, or music, clip from a movie. Next to your example, specify if this is an example of repressive or ideological apparatuses at work. I’ll start us of off by giving an example.

NOTE: Once you’ve scheduled your post to be published on at midnight on Sunday, you can still go back and edit your post until then, if you want to rewrite and/or add to your post.

As a review, follow the following steps to submit your response:

1. Click on the “+” button in the black bar at the top of the screen
2. Type a title for the post (it should include your full name)
3. Type your response
4. On the right side, click on Categories: and check “Discussion 3.2”
5. Important: On the right side, at the top: click on the date next to Publish, and enter your post date, which is this coming Sunday, at 11:59pm.
6. Click Publish and you’re done.

What will happen next is your post will automatically be published by the OpenLab system on Sunday at midnight. The goal here is for all student posts to be published at the same deadline. After that point, you can begin reading each others’ posts, and you have to comment on at least one other student’s post.

Note: please make sure that you schedule your post to be published on Sunday, midnight, not before.