1. Do you notice any similarities in the way social class is discussed in readings 4.1 and 4.2? Do you notice any differences in the way these two readings DIFFERENTIATE between social classes?
= One of their similarity is that both aim to define social class based on household income and what role people are identifies as (lower, working, middle, upper…) but also both differentiate that the reading 4.1 is more specific and gives facts like education make working-class identification drops significantly and people usually define themselves based on the social class they are surrounded by for example someone might be upper class but if there are people with more money so they identify as middle-upper class.
2) Pick the station closest to where you live. Using the concepts from Reading 4.1, what social class tends to live in your neighborhood? Are you surprised (or not) by the answer? Do you feel it is an accurate representation of the people living in your neighborhood?
=Based on my research the social class from my closest station (R train) are working and middle class mostly, which surprises me because the daily life is expensive for everyone specially in this city (considering the increasing cost of living).
3)Based on Reading 4.2, do you notice a general pattern about social classes in NYC?
=(Since reading 4.2 is not working at this moment this answer is based on research)
The general pattern is where the upper and lower class are distributed, these are areas that the living cost varies and is affordable for them for example living in Manhattan is way more expensive than Queens and somebody from the upper class will be likely in Manhattan more than Queens and it is the same the other way around

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

=Repressive state apparatus i when an individual is being indoctrinated with fear by the system to act and think is a specific way, Althusser calls it because in this way the person faces a ‘punishment’ for not following what they are told, the most important thing here is to make the person not to reveal for example at schools they teach critical thinking but critical thinking nevers extends to the apparatus itself

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

=This one uses other methods to achieve the same objective but by ideological strategies where they are exposed to the same ideas constantly and making them think that is the idea the must follow too, we can see it in churches, schools, restaurants… they seem to work as ‘socially accepted’ so everybody is force to act the same way or else there will be any kind of consequence, also social pressure is there to ensure that kind of behave.

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?

=The repressive state is based on fear and the ideological one based on social ideas, the repressive one has to do more with physical restriction of freedom and the ideological one is more a restriction of free thinking

This image is an example of ideological state, news are a good example of how we are constantly exposed to them, many times not knowing if they are true or not, the way they are easily manipulable makes it a source of misinformation which can lead to indoctrination if they wanted.

1.
a)Describe what ideology is in a brief paragraph (in your own words)

= Ideology is when your believes are build by external factors like your parents and systems that determine the way you must think and act and also shows you the consequences of not following the rules and what is supposed to be accepted socially so that create our way of thinking and even build our personality

b) Give an example illustrating what you wrote in

= For example the ideology of what is ‘polite’ and the ways you should act or look to meet those expectations whether it is a meeting or when you need to show respect to those who socially are ‘above you’.

c) Write another paragraph (or two), explaining to your reader with additional details, how you understand ideology

= I understand ideology as the base of our behave and personality, if we would have been raised by other people besides the ones that raised us, or in another culture and so, our ideology and the way we perceive things, would we completely different so ideology is based on what we were and are exposed to, also in our adulthood we can change those ideologies if our view gets influenced by other factors in our daily lives.

2. How do you understand the difference between conservative and liberal ideology in US politics? What seem to be the big differences, the dividing line? Given an example to backup your arguments.
Hint: try to identify key words (concepts) that play a big role in making someone consider themselves to be liberal or conservative. Then, explain in your own words what those keywords (concepts) mean.

= The main difference between both is the way they think government should intervene in the society, i understand it as ‘The one who is worried about the working class (liberals) and the one who is worried about the profit and private sector (conservative)’ also the liberal one cares about the environment which i consider the most important thing to be aware of. For example rich people tend to be conservative because that party is what benefits them the most while marginalized people tend to support liberals because they believe in equality

3. How do you understand Althusser’s definition of ideology? Paraphrase it in your own words. Given an example. Hint: you may have to watch the second video again, and find the few places where Althusser’s position is presented.

=According to Althusser’s ideology there are two ways ideology rises, one is the repressive way where people face punishments when not following the rules (fear) and they need to follow strict and monotone rules established by the superiors for example the laws, if not followed people can face punishments and so on…. the second one is the ideological and this one has more to do with the way you are raised and what ideas you get from your guardians and their culture or just by the surroundings (people, thoughts, ideas, school…), for example in school rules have to be followed, a schedule, a specific way to behave..