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casparb's review against another edition
4.0
Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses is a wonderfully written and highly insightful essay. That is to say nothing new. But definitely a recommendation for that essay (though not necessarily the entire book).
The other essays here are hit-and-miss. Reply to John Lewis is basically good but nothing new. I'm not familiar enough with Lacan (yet) to assess Althusser's essay that plays with Psychoanalytics. There's also a brief letter at the end which discourses on art/knowledge/science. It's pretty good but brief.
So it's clear that the opening essay (Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses) carries all the heft here, and with good reason. I've enjoyed making connections here and there - Benjamin was a good base of knowledge to approach this from.
The other essays here are hit-and-miss. Reply to John Lewis is basically good but nothing new. I'm not familiar enough with Lacan (yet) to assess Althusser's essay that plays with Psychoanalytics. There's also a brief letter at the end which discourses on art/knowledge/science. It's pretty good but brief.
So it's clear that the opening essay (Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses) carries all the heft here, and with good reason. I've enjoyed making connections here and there - Benjamin was a good base of knowledge to approach this from.
caris96's review against another edition
5.0
“[World outlooks] need only be ‘interpreted’ to discover the reality of their world behind their imaginary representation of that world” (36).
Althusser covers a wide range of topics in this work, from repressive and ideological state apparatuses, to historical materialism, to Stalin. His Marxist perspective is situated unmistakably within the structuralism of the 1960s, although his arguments about ideology and its relationship to power still hold up well today. Despite its commitment to total history, this is really helpful for understanding later work on both Marxism and the sociology of knowledge.
Althusser covers a wide range of topics in this work, from repressive and ideological state apparatuses, to historical materialism, to Stalin. His Marxist perspective is situated unmistakably within the structuralism of the 1960s, although his arguments about ideology and its relationship to power still hold up well today. Despite its commitment to total history, this is really helpful for understanding later work on both Marxism and the sociology of knowledge.
adamz24's review
1.0
"I knew the work of Descartes and Malebranche well, Spinoza a little, Aristotle not at all; Plato and Pascal quite well, Kant not at all, Hegel a little"- Louis Althusser
carist's review against another edition
challenging
informative
slow-paced
5.0
“[World outlooks] need only be ‘interpreted’ to discover the reality of their world behind their imaginary representation of that world” (36).
Althusser covers a wide range of topics in this work, from repressive and ideological state apparatuses, to historical materialism, to Stalin. His Marxist perspective is situated unmistakably within the structuralism of the 1960s, although his arguments about ideology and its relationship to power still hold up well today. Despite its commitment to total history, this is really helpful for understanding later work on both Marxism and the sociology of knowledge.
Althusser covers a wide range of topics in this work, from repressive and ideological state apparatuses, to historical materialism, to Stalin. His Marxist perspective is situated unmistakably within the structuralism of the 1960s, although his arguments about ideology and its relationship to power still hold up well today. Despite its commitment to total history, this is really helpful for understanding later work on both Marxism and the sociology of knowledge.
lucien_david's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.0
Althusser explains the importance of a theory of ideology for the materialist. In particular he discusses the material impacts that ideology has on the world and the material composition of ideological institutions. This collection also contains other related essays elaborating Althusser’s theories and responding to critics.