Althusser says the state, like other institutions, uses repressive structures to maintain its power. However, that power is also maintained by the willingness of the subjugated to remain so. That's where ideological structures come in. It seems monstrous that those in power can rely on the consent of others. Ideological structures, I think, indicate a greater degree of power than do repressive structures.
That makes me think of the panopticon, where the prisoners are definitely held by repressive structures (the prison), but the possibility of being observed at any moment and the impossibility of knowing if it is happening creates an ideological structure. After some amount of time (no doubt varying from prisoner to prisoner) the inmate gives up any power he might have. The cells could then be left unlocked, and there could be no guards. Or maybe not - it seems that there is always someone who is brave or foolhardy enough to test the structures, be they repressive or ideological.
Fascinating, but I'm not sure what this has to do with reading literature . . .
My blog for Literary Theory - English 615, Fall, 2009, at CSU-Pueblo.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
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