Ideology

I recognize that this musing on ideology, and particularly Althusser's understanding of the term, is by no means comprehensive or the end all be all of the discussion surrounding his provocative ideas. Perhaps, however, it is useful to think of ideology as how stories we tell ourselves of our relationship to real conditions of existence compel, or even force, us to act in certain ways. For me, formulating Althusser's notion in this elementary way helped me to hone my understanding of the ideas he puts forth in Ideology and the State.

Also, I wanted to briefly touch on a question that was raised in Proseminar yesterday, the question of why Alhtusser puts forth the thesis that "ideology represents the imaginary relationship of individuals to their real conditions of existence" (109, italics added). The answer is simple: because, a la Marx, if we were to understand the real relationship, we would not be in ideology; we wouldn't have to tell a story (**cough cough** conceptual poetry).