A Repressive State Apparatus is a set of institutions that the higher class use to keep their power and control the working class. They use the threat of force to maintain this social order. Examples of some of these institutions are courts, the government, the prison system and police. Althusser calls it repressive because of the use of force and violence to keep domination. Police for example are repressive. They may use excessive force, suppress peaceful protests just because, and sometimes even intimidate people into giving wrongful confessions. Police have the ability to abuse their power in order to keep their control.

Ideological State Apparatuses are institutions that shape others’ beliefs, behaviors and their values in order to uphold structures that already exist. Examples of these Ideological State Apparatuses would be churches/religion, schools/education, political parties, etc. This works by enforcing individuals to accept and go by the existing systems and social structures that already exist.

Both the Repressive and Ideological State Apparatuses work to maintain power of those in the higher class. The way they do this is different. Repressive use the threat of force and violence. Ideological use ideology and persuasion. They are also more diverse. 

https://wesleyancovenant.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/10/1280px-Interior_of_St_Andrews_Catholic_Church_in_Roanoke_Virginia-300×197.jpg

This is a Catholic church. One like I grew up going to as a child. This is an example of an ideological apparatus. This is because of the way the church does its teachings and influences individuals to behave a certain way and act morally correct.

a. Ideology to me is beliefs and ideas that create and mold individuals. These beliefs and ideas play a big part in how they see the world around them. Their political views, their economic views, social issues and how they believe things should be resolved or ran. There are different political parties that have their own different thoughts on how governments should go about issues and how much they should be a part of worldly problems. The ideas and beliefs that people have help them understand the world around them and influence their behavior.

b. Ideology has a lot to do with how the government goes about different issues. Some examples being like I mentioned, socialism for one. Socialist ideology contains collective ownership, strong state control, prioritizing the working class, and aiming for equality. Socialists advocate for a more democratic government.

c. I understand ideology is broken up into different political parties. There’re many different ones. Liberal, conservative, liberation, socialist, anarchist, etc. One’s ideology depends on their values and core principles, their belief on how society should be, their beliefs on social relationships/humans and their beliefs on their government. There are many different political views and different social values. A lot of the influences on someone’s ideology is family, education, social groups, gender, religion.

Conservatives believe that a large government poses a threat. On the other hand, liberals believe that the government can solve a lot of problems. A main issue being taxes. Liberals believe that the rich need to be taxed more. Conservatives believe that the government should be involved as little as possible. One example of this is abortions. Conservatives are against abortions and feel as though the government should not be funding them. Conservatives favor minimal regulations. They also believe in the equality of opportunity in general, while liberals emphasize equality of outcome and highlight historical inequalities. 

Althusser’s definition of ideology is that if you are not self-conscious then you will reply on ideology. Althusser believes that someone’s ideology depends on how they were taught to live. He believed ideology is internalized by everyone. Politics give us a choice and make us feel like we have some say. Everything is really just an illusion, and we aren’t really getting a fair opportunity or chance to actually be involved enough in political decisions like who’s running for president. We only have the opportunity to vote between who is already picked out for us. But people are content with this illusion, and it makes them feel like they a voice through this process. Usually, people aren’t thinking enough about the inequality. Althusser also highlights how school highlights discipline. You’re taught to do things a very specific way and if you don’t cooperate correctly then there’s consequences. We either accept and comply or face what comes with not have a real choice.

There are differences in the role of citizens in government among the federal, confederation, and unitary systems. The main difference being that there are different levels to how citizens can have a direct say or influence. The federal system gives citizens a greater range of opportunities for being involved. The unitary systems offer the least amount of direct citizen interaction. Confederations are in between.

I understand that the system of division of power are broken up into three parts. Federal system, unitary system, and confederation system. They each have a different representation of the parts they play in balancing authority. They each come with pros and cons. The federal system shares its power between a central government and state government. The unitary system has a strong central government that controls weaker division. The confederation system has a weak central government and strong member states that can choose whether they want to follow their lead or not.

The federal government shapes the actions of state and local governments by

-setting mandates and setting regulations.

-creating legislations that states have to follow.

-federal, state and local governments working together on specific global issues.

-providing funding and having grants.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government provided a lot of financial assistance thankfully. There was money for most of those in need or struggling due to financial hardship that the pandemic brought upon everyone. There were also mandates and regulations set during this time. There was a mask mandate that went into effect and everyone for a very long time had to wear a mask out in public or when entering public areas like train stations, stores and restaurants.