Law as Ideological State Apparatus - Term Paper Example

Law as Ideological Apparatus (Section A) What does it mean to say that Law is an “Ideological State Apparatus”? Introduction While laws have been revered as well as vilified by philosophers across time, it seems than no other thinker has taken the approach to understand law as it was taken by Louis Althusser. By subjugating Law to the status of state apparatus he clearly shows his Structural Marxist leanings as well as the evidence of empirical philosophy. The idea of an Ideological State Apparatus (ISA) was give by Althusser and law was considered to be one of the means by which a state could control the ideology of a people while making sure that the apparatus could be modified if the ideology of the state ever changed. Louis Althusser To examine the idea and the resulting debate in detail, it is important to understand Althusser’s reasons for considering different social constructs like laws and norms as a part of the Ideological state apparatus. Althusser was born in 1918 and studied in Paris where he eventually gained a position as a highly regarded professor of philosophy (Wikipedia, 2006). Regarding Marxism, he took the view that Karl Marx had been basically misinterpreted by other philosophers and he presented his own interpretation of Marx. Althusser and Marx Althusser suggested that Marx had discovered a break from the ideas held by classical economists that recommended treating the needs of the people to bring satisfaction to them. In Althussers view, Marx did not suggest that peoples needs are created mainly by the social conditions they are placed in and thus could change with time and place. Instead, he refuted the very idea that there could be a set of rules that decide what people are bound to be or what they wish to have (Wikipedia, 2006). At the same time, Marx had given his ideas about the individual and the relationship between an individual and the society at large. Althusser considered it a futile exercise to create a social concept on a preconceived notion of an individual and considered the examination of social structures more important than individual needs. In his view, larger social structures like economic practices, ideology, and legal practices create society as a complex superstructure and both the individual as well as society itself are dependent upon it and the corresponding relationships that evolve (Wikipedia, 2006). For instance, amongst the relations of the production processes are the purchase and sale of labour power by capitalists and workers. These relations are a significant part of social economic practice, but they can only be created within the confines of a related legal system that gives individual agents roles as buyers and sellers (Felluga, 2006). Additionally, the arrangement must be governed by political and ideological means that support the production and utilisation of labour; therefore, this interconnected structure is what makes up a society. State Apparatus The philosophical ideas projected by Althusser showed that it was important to understand how a particular society could create individuals to conform to a given image. In a capitalist community, the individual is taught to be a subject who has to the power of being a self-conscious agent (Wolff, 2006). The acquisition of this thought and idea of the self is generated by acting within defined guidelines that suggest certain social practices as good or bad. These guidelines are used to determine the characteristics of a person and provide them with meaning when they look for opportunities within the society. The Ideological State Apparatuses These opportunities define the profession as well as the need for certain professionals in a given environment (Wolff, 2006). For example, farmers produce their goods as a part of the economic structure of society while lawyers are trained and work due to the legal structure. The values, emotions, wants and desires which a person has have been created by ideological structures in society which are represented by several institutes which are respected and appreciated by a community. These are the Ideological State Apparatuses (ISA) which include things such as: Religious beliefs Educational instruction Family values Political system Communication methods Cultural artefacts Legal system In contrast to the State Apparatus (SA), the ISA are not centralised to any source of power but are distributed in society on a more general level (Felluga, 2006). They have a significant influence on the private domain of existence as well as the public sectors. The central difference between the ISA and the SA is the ideology behind each of the apparatuses; the State Apparatus comes from the might of the armed forces or the threat of violence against those who go against it. On the other hand, the Ideological State Apparatuses function with support from the ideology of the people. Of course an IAS could also be enforced with violence but Althusser clarifies the issue by saying that State Apparatus are used primarily by violence or individual repression while ideological ideas take a secondary position. At the same time, the Ideological State Apparatuses function primarily due to the ideology attached to them while the threat of violence and consequences for going against the apparatus are a secondary concern (Felluga, 2006). The Laws of the land The legal system is a perfect example of this since obedience to law is supported by an idea of ethics which is enforced by creating a sense of fair play within the minds of individuals beginning from their childhood (Wikipedia, 2006). Laws are also created to discipline, reprimand, imprison or even kill a person if they go against the dictates of the law (Myers, 2005). Families may also use the same principles to not give dessert or reduce the allowances of misbehaving children. Even though the ‘laws’ of an individual family may have no bearing on state laws, they still function as an ideological apparatus. Ideology Althusser’s ideas about ideology are unique in the sense that he does not state a history of ideology and suggests that the requirement and the shape of ideology have not changed at all through history (Wikipedia, 2006). People are given an innate sense of what they are supposed to do in certain social situations and interactions. For instance, while interacting with teachers in a school or while interacting with a shopkeeper there are many situations where there may be no written laws but there are a set of acceptable behaviour which come from the ideology of the society. In religious terms, the dogma of God being omniscient can be applied to warn people that God knows everything therefore every ‘evil’ act committed is noted and seen by him even if it is done in solitude. A religious person may treat the bible or the Quran as the actual word of God that defines what a person must do to attain happiness in this world and the next. In order for a person to be known as a religious person, s/he must accept some form of ideology before the title can be given. This identity is only obtained once the individual and the society accept the role of the person as it is rooted in some ideology (Felluga, 2006). The separation of the church and state was a difficult process even for a nation like America until a separation of ideologies could be established (Buckley, 2005). The German Question Considering the various examples given to us by history, the situation in Nazi Germany stands as a good example of how ideologically guided laws and the social apparatus can be used very negatively in the wrong hands. The Nazis were willing to exterminate an entire segment of their own citizens simply because they believed in an ideology which was flawed and laws which first sought to expel all the Jews from Germany and then to kill them since that was thought to be a faster method to get to the final solution (Williamson, 2004). Who makes the laws? This certainly makes one think and creates some very important questions for us. For instance, if ideology is always present and if it can be controlled by some means other than force, would that mean that people can willingly give up their freedoms and be softly coerced into doing something which is bad for them? If laws are based on the ideology of the state and if the ideology is flawed in some way, are the laws of the land also flawed? It is not surprising to note that the ideas presented by Althusser are very much applicable to our times since he was certainly a philosopher for the times we live in. Since the time of Aristotle it has been accepted that laws can be changed, ideology can be modified and society as a whole can grow towards being something better than what it presently is. However, if the people of a land believe in certain laws to be firmly entrenched in their ideological beliefs, would they not resist a change in the laws if it is perceived to infringe upon the ideology of the people? The case of Saudi Arabia comes rushing to the mind where archaic laws are being changed with huge difficulties since the laws are firmly grounded in the ideology of the people. Finally, who makes the laws which are acceptable to the people? Since ideology is the greatest influence on the laws and since ideology is simply present without question could individuals get laws created which are against the ideology of a nation even if the law is good? Euthanasia is one such issue which raised heated debate on both sides of the argument but after studying Althusser’s ideas it seems clear that a law can not be formed on the question while the people remain sharply divided. Until an ideological solution is presented for the problem, it will continue to remain a problem. Conclusion After a reading of Althusser, I find that I have more questions than answers which I believe can be considered a great compliment to the writings and ideas of Althusser since he makes a person think. Given his ideas of State Apparatuses and Ideological State Apparatuses it seems that society is not the benign social network and the requirement for existence as it has been presented by other western philosophers. Rather, it is more like a behemoth which continues to produce and absorb individuals to sustain itself with their servitude while it does not give much to them in return. Before reading Althusser, I believed that in a democratic system like the society we live in, laws are created by the people. Of course they are not directly created by ‘the people’ but with elected representatives who are supposed to convey the wishes of their electorate to others in a group setting where they can debate, evaluate and justify the creation of certain laws which will facilitate the lives of those who have elected them. Now, given that the role of ideology and the role of the state itself in the creation of laws has been demonstrated clearly, I am not sure that the representatives of the people actually represent the people. Certainly every individual can and should have their own ideological biases since our differences can make us better human beings. However, considering the overall similarities we have in our ideologies with our fellow countrymen, I am inclined to agree with Althusser’s ideas that it is society and the ideology followed by a society that creates the laws of the land. Therefore, if the laws of a nation need to be changed, modified or updated to stay in line with changing times, it would be more beneficial and more effective to actually change the ideology of the state as a whole than just to change its laws. Research Log (Section B) The reason why I wanted to work on this particular topic was my own interest in knowing more about Althusser and understanding his work in a better manner. Althusser comes across to me as an exceedingly perceptive thinker and his ideas regarding society, social setups and the power which the ideology of a society has over an individual appeal to me greatly. By reading what other authors have written about his work, life and his thoughts I have come to a better understanding of Althusser’s ideas and his works. The first and foremost resource for gathering information about Althusser was the internet since I believe that contains the sum knowledge of mankind as it has evolved to improve information access for the masses. In the simplest of terms, the internet is the library of Alexandria of our times and I always look towards it whenever there is research to be done on any topic. I was surprised to find that there was a lot of information present on Althusser and I had to separate the wheat from the chaff to select those websites as sources which I know to be reliable and trustworthy. Therefore, the bulk of the information from the internet comes from the websites of educational institutes or organizations which make it their business to share free and accurate information. Wikipedia is one of the free encyclopaedias online which has gained a lot of respect from academic circles for its accuracy and reliability therefore it is often a starting point for the research. At the same time, the search engine, Google also has become a good resource for research related tasks and there were several websites which I discovered through this brilliant search tool. Perhaps the best website for information about Althusser’s ideas was Dr. Dino Felluga’s webpage at the Purdue University website that explains many of the difficult concepts in simple language and uses examples from everyday life to clarify the somewhat complex ideas of the relationships between State Apparatuses and the Ideological State Apparatuses. While this particular site has many sections and other pages devoted to Althusser, the page on Ideological State Apparatuses was most useful since it highlighted the fact that educational institutes are the basis of the ISAs and the indoctrination for the legal system begins at a very young age. Another website, FindArticles.com led me to two web pages which come from reliable sources and show how both America and Germany used the ideas of Althusser to take two different paths. While the German Nazi party changed the ideology of the country for their own gains, the Americans had to modify their ideologies and split them into two sections to get to a point where there was a clear differentiation between the state and the church. This clearly showed to me that no idea is good or bad in and of itself, but it is the application of the idea which makes it good or bad. This was reinforced by an article published in the New Political Science Journal by Myers who showed how Britain used the process of creating an Ideological State Apparatus to rule in some of its colonies in the time when the sun never set over the British Empire. Considering that it was only a recent time when that was true, it showed me how Althusser is clearly a philosopher of our own times and his words are still applicable as great empires like the Soviet Union collapse in living memory. Although this article is not completely relevant to Althusser, it does show how his ideas were applied therefore I believe using the article as a part of this paper is a viable option. Once I had a sizeable number of articles, websites and other sources which I thought would be useful for the creation of the paper, I created an outline for the paper as the basic starting point. The points of the outline were as follows: Introduction to the paper Introduction to the philosopher Comparison with Marx Discussion of State Apparatus Discussion of Ideological State Apparatus The idea of ideology Conclusion I then converted the points in the outline to headings and used that to guide the structure of the eventual paper. While I was reading and writing under various topics, I made some adjustments to the initial outline and added certain subtopics to further clarify the direction of the paper itself. I also added several examples while revising and reading the paper a second time just to make sure that there would be nothing left which required more clarification or an explanation with a verbal illustration or a diagram. In terms of difficulties with the paper, I would have to say that there were no significant issues since the majority of the sources were written by those who have extensively studied the works of Althusser and have expert level knowledge about his life and works. I also found that certain sources went a little too far with their descriptions when they wished to explain a point being made by Althusser which made it slightly distraction. In many cases I just moved on the next source since clarity is very important especially when it comes to understanding a philosopher like Althusser. While this was not the hardest paper I ever wrote, it was also not the easiest the brilliance of a man like Althusser often blinds lesser mortals. Overall I enjoyed the research and writing process and hope to learn more about Althusser in coming times. Works Cited Buckley, T. 2005, ‘One Nation Under Law: Americas Early National Struggles to Separate Church and State’, Virginia Magazine of History and Biography, [Online] Available at: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3644/is_200501/ai_n15716409 Felluga, D. 2006, ‘Modules on Althusser: On Ideological State Apparatuses’, Purdue University, [Online] Available at: http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/marxism/modules/althusserISAsmainframe.html Myers, J. 2005, ‘On Her Majestys Ideological State Apparatus: Indirect Rule and Empire’, New Political Science, vol. 27, no. 2, pp. 147-160. Wikipedia. 2006, ‘Louis Althusser’, Wikipedia.org, [Online] Available at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Althusser Williamson, D. 2004, ‘How Hitler reached the final solution’, USA Tosay, [Online] Available at: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1272/is_2712_133/ai_n6201937 Wolff, R. 2006, ‘Ideological State Apparatuses’, University of Massachusetts, [Online] Available at: http://dogma.free.fr/txt/RW_IdeologicalApparatuses.htm Word Count: 3,003 Read More