e of its ideology, we would be “madmen” trapped in an isolated vacuum without any social referents. In this light, ideology is crucial to the formation of consciousness.How exactly is ideology instilled into citizens? The most obvious answer is that we are shaped by our culture in the process of socialization. It is during this period that we learn what to value and how to behave. Many Marxist theorists have developed this basic analysis further. Louis Althusser developed the concept of Ideological State Apparatuses (ISAs). ISAs are those arms of the state that assist in the ideological formation and control of subjects. The most obvious forms are the government itself and its agents, the police and military. These ISAs serve as the brute strength to punish or subdue those who stray too far from the flock’s ideology. However, Althusser also saw other social institutions as ISAs, such as churches and schools. While these ISAs do not exercise brute force to instill ideology, they do so through more subtle methods. The church assists in placing the ideology of ethics and morality into subjects, concepts crucial to the maintenance of social control. Schools are similar, but emphasize the shared history of the culture and its subjects, indoctrinating them into nationalism. Althusser outlined how schools function to educate people only to the level that would be most socially efficacious. It may be feasible for a society to create programs that would educate all, but it would never happen. Such a system would disrupt the balance between the educated elite that makes decisions and the uneducated masses that carry out these programs. Thus, there are limits placed upon each additional step in education, be they based on GPA percentile, finances, or other socioeconomic factors. Althusser thus brings the Marxist division between bourgeoisie and proletariat into the modern age. He critiques the essentially Ameri...
