1.) A Repressive State Apparatus is what controls you through the threat of violence including police, courts, and prisons. Essentially, it is to ensure that citizens are controlled through the use of force and even violence through any of these means. He called it “repressive” because the police, courts, and prisons are all means of restricting one’s freedom. For example, despite this being a way of striking fear into many people, it is actually supposed to be a motivator for people to remain honest individuals in society. But people wanting to be normal citizens of society and are accepted to belong within a group is just as much of a “motivator” as law enforcement.

2.) Ideological State Apparatuses prevents change to the “status quo,” or in other words, is a much more softer approach in correcting an individual’s wrongdoings and ensuring that one understands “right from wrong.” An example of this would be schools, politics, and the mass media. For instance, in school we are all given a schedule to follow everyday, rules to respect the building and staff, and etc… If you disobey the rules in any fashion, you will be disciplined with something like detention or suspension. This form of punishment is much like law enforcement in a way.

3.) Repressive and Ideological State Apparatuses are different from each other because despite them being both used as a means of disciplining individuals of society, they have opposite methods. Repressive State Apparatuses controls citizens through the use of force and even violence. The driving force behind this method are to use law enforcement officials and means such as police officers and prison. On the other hand, there are Ideological State Apparatuses which uses a much more “softer” approach in ensuring people remain upstanding citizens in society or the “status quo.” It believes the use of schools, politics, and the mass media can aid in one’s discipline because it teaches you “right from wrong” in it’s own way but without the force and violence like Repressive.

4.) My example of an ideology would be in regards to a video game that wanted to voice an important message. During the year of 2020, the COVID-19 virus had ravaged the globe and the United States had found itself as one of the many countries that dealt with the burden quite early. Considering how rapidly people were getting infected and the virus was killing people throughout the various states, the government had ordered people to stay home in order to combat the crisis. Unfortunately, the government could not reach everyone in a way that stood out and encouraged their behavior. So, many popular companies and brands that people loved very much had decided to post advertisements and post on social media to reach out. A prime example of just that was when the popular Japanese video game developer named “Capcom,” decided to use it’s popular video game franchise known as “Street Fighter” to advocate for such. They used their main face of the popular fighting game, known as “Chun-Li.” Not only is she well known throughout the gaming community which is large but the attire that is used is to express strength. Strength is something a lot of people needed to be reminded of throughout the pandemic. To ensure that this message was well received, they had posted it on the game’s website and on social media platforms such as Twitter. At one point the government had even tried to fine people as a means of staying home but using a video game character like her will reach a broader range of people. This is a form of “disciplining” people because it promotes the government’s wants in a softer approach than a forceful way by fines.

Link: https://www.siliconera.com/capcom-encourages-people-to-stay-home-with-chun-li-and-ryu/