Questions 1, 2, and 3:

Althusser believed that, in a modern capitalist society, two apparatuses worked hand-in-hand to control behavior. Working off of Marx’s definition of ideology, which described the ways that the ruling class prevented changes to the status quo in Feudal socities (namely through the Divine Right of Kings), he defined these new forms of control as the Repressive and the Ideological apparatuses. The Repressive uses fear and violence (police, incarceration) to keep people in their place and prevent revolution. However, the Repressive only exists as backup to the Ideological. The Ideological, called ideological because it is driven by the implantation of ideologies, ingrains the need for societal acceptance, as well as how to function as a capitalist subject, in order to prevent revolution and keep the status quo. It does this primarily through the public school system. Because school is mandatory, it is the most efficient way to train people from a very young age to function in a capitalist society. It pushes obedience over everything, with the threat of violence (detention) if someone steps out of line. This primes an organized and submissive population who believes that authority is inherently good.

If authority and discipline are not accepted, the repressive takes away corporeal freedom (the word repressive is defined as “inhibiting or restraining the freedom of a person or group of people”). In other words, to resist the status quo will result in state-enforced violence.

The difference between the two is fairly simple. The Ideological Apparatus is focused on sub-concious, constant indoctrination. It is not upfront about its intentions, to the point that many who enforce is do not fully understand what they are doing. On the other hand, the Repressive Apparatus is solely focused on the enforcement of the Ideological’s indoctrination; enforcement of submission to the status quo. The Repressive involves violence, while the Ideological “moves” in the shadows.

Question 4: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkLxi4Tsm2E

My example of ideology is the song New York City cops by The Strokes. It is an example of ideology in art and represents Ideological Apparatuses. It was written in response to the 1999 murder of Amadou Diallo by New York City police officers.