2. Based on the closest station to where I live and using details from the article “What Determines How Americans Perceive Their Social Class?”, I think most people in my neighborhood would align with the working class or the middle class. Considering both income and education, people here generally need to earn somewhere between 40k and 100k just to get by. Connecting this to the Gallup article, people earning in the 75k–99k range tend to assign themselves to the middle class, while those in the 40k–50k range predominantly identify as working class. I feel this is an accurate representation of my neighborhood, and I am not surprised by it because there are several restaurants in the area that are always filled with customers, which suggests a relatively stable flow of income for many of the people who live here.

1. Louis Althusser delves into the reasoning behind why people develop ideologies that act against their interests. Althusser comes up with with two apparatuses, which are means of control. The first one is the repressive state apparatus. To put it plainly, this is fear. Repressive means to ‘restrain the freedom of a group of people’. With this in place, whatever would benefit a capitalistic society could be enforced by means of fear. An example of a repressive state apparatus would be excessive police presence during a protest for healthcare, or workers rights. By having an excessive amount of police present, people would either be scared into either leaving the protest and accepting conditions as they are, or forced to disperse and go home.

2. The other method of control would be the ideological state apparatus. Ideological state apparatuses exist to condition people. It shapes the way people think, feel and view society and government. Instead of relying on a physical presence that comes with force, ideological state apparatuses can be presented as a social norm or belief. Ideological state apparatuses exist within schools, politics, media and consumerism. The way they function is by rewarding ‘acceptable’ behavior in a capitalist society. In school, you are rewarded for coming in on time, not disrupting the flow of class, producing perfect results on exams and more. By punishing the opposite of this behavior (lateness, bad test scores, being disruptive), helps to encourage the current flow of society. Nobody wants to be seen as an outcast. Ideological state apparatuses prepare people to act in the interest of capitalism.

3. Repressive and ideological state apparatuses are differing forms of control. Repressive state apparatuses exist through suppression and fear, while ideological state apparatuses exist through ideals and concepts. Repressive state apparatuses act as a one big looming fear for those who want to go against the way society works. It’s an outside force that forces people to obey with threats. Ideological state apparatuses are within instead. Since we’re taught or exposed to these things, it shapes our minds to act in line, instead of something outside pushing us to.

4. An example of an ideological state apparatus is news outlets.

To further the example, news outlets push out information that may be against a group of people, or an idea that doesn’t align with the governments current agenda. During one of the presidential debates in 2024, Donald Trump amplified a false rumor about Haitian immigrants in Springfield Ohio eating pets. This claim has debunked, but it still persisted through several news cycle. President Donald Trumps administration has a heavy anti-immigration push. News resources repeating those rumors conditions people to believe that immigrants are the enemy of the US.

1. Ideology is an individuals inner beliefs. It delves into ones morals, what they believe is right or wrong. Shaping how people interact with and think of society and the government. It’s subjective, as it differs from person to person. But, ideologies can be shared. Everyone has their individual reasons for aligning under an ideology. Political socialization is the way people develop their own ideologies, the main factors in this being family, social groups and economic standing. An example of an ideology would be conservatism. Conservatives stand for a government that isn’t too hands on with their people because it allows them freedom. They value keeping the church intertwined with the state, a ‘traditional’ family, free markets and a strong military. Since conservatives place heavy emphasis on family, someone is prone to align under this ideology if their parents are conservative.

2. Conservative and liberal ideology have major differences in US politics. Conservatives value freedom, a restricted government, and tradition. Liberals value equality, government involvement and social progression. A key difference would be their stances on government involvement. Conservatives strive for a government that has limited engagement with their people. Since there’s less involvement, people wouldn’t have to pay as many taxes because government funded programs wouldn’t exist. On the other hand, liberals believe that government involvement is a necessity. To liberals, government involvement would make sure social programs like retirement funds, public education and Medicare are able to exist, and help the lives of many different people.

3. Althusser sees ideology as something that is taught to better benefit a capitalist society, not the people. Ideology is something that gets people to act against their best interests. He believes that ideology isn’t something that people are born with, that instead, it’s a kind of conditioning people go through. Althusser describes two apparatus that enforces these conditions so people can better serve a capitalist society, repressive and ideological apparatus. The repressive apparatus is the threat of jail time for falling out of line. While ideological apparatus serves as the main motivator behind Althusser’s theory. It includes schools, politics and mass media as a means of control. For an example, the way school and the education system is set up. In school, discipline is taught. It teaches people to be obedient. If you show up late, skip a class, or go against a school schedule, you get presented with detention or you’re seen as a delinquent. This ties into Althusser’s belief, that if you don’t fall into the order that was made up, you’ll be punished.