Repressive State Apparatus Quick reference
A Dictionary of Critical Theory (2 ed.)
... State Apparatus ( RSA ) The French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser ’s concept for what is known in contemporary political discourse as ‘hard power’, i.e. a form of power that operates by means of violence. It is usually accompanied by what Althusser termed the Ideological State Apparatus , which is a ‘soft power’ concept. The Repressive State Apparatus consists of the army, the police, the judiciary, and the prison system. It operates primarily by means of mental and physical coercion and violence (latent and actual). Further Reading: L....
Repressive State Apparatus
Law Reference library
An Oxford Companion to the Romantic Age
...constitution accompanied by an independent Supreme Court, and to establish a Bill of Rights. In other words, they created a fundamental charter of natural rights and set up a supreme common law court which developed powers of legislative review to prevent a recurrence of repressive parliamentary government. Alexander Hamilton ( 1757–1804 ), George Washington 's private secretary during the *American Revolution , justified these developments on the grounds that ‘though individual oppression may now and then proceed from the courts of justice, the...
Churches in Context: The Jesus Movement in the Roman World Reference library
Daniel N. Schowalter
Oxford History of the Biblical World
...Judaism began to develop in new directions under rabbinic leadership. Meanwhile, the churches continued to attract mostly Gentiles. Ten years later, after Titus's death in 81 ce , the churches and Judaism were evolving differently, but they both faced new challenges under the repressive policies of Vespasian's other son, Domitian. A Younger Brother's Revenge: The Reign of Domitian Many Romans greeted the accession of Domitian...
ideological state apparatuses Quick reference
A Dictionary of Social Work and Social Care (2 ed.)
...state apparatuses A concept used by Louis Althusser ( 1918–90 ) alongside his parallel concept of ‘repressive state apparatuses’. He argued that the state is maintained by both sets of apparatuses. Repressive state apparatuses—in the form of the army, the courts, the police, and the prison system—can punish and ensure conformity by force. In contrast, ideological state apparatuses—such as churches, trade unions, schools, the media (and social work might be added)—are outside the formal control of the state, but transmit the values of the state, and...
ideological state apparatus Quick reference
A Dictionary of Sociology (4 ed.)
...contrasted with the so-called ‘repressive state apparatus’ of the armed forces and police, and is allotted a major role in securing compliance within developed capitalist societies. Beyond reproducing the assumption that the state itself reflects a particular class interest, the theory of ideological state apparatus has also been criticized for simplifying relations between these institutions and the state, and underestimating their autonomy or potential for such autonomy. It also allowed too facile an equation of challenging authority within education with...
ideological state apparatus Quick reference
A Dictionary of Journalism
...ideological state apparatus ( ISA ) A role played by the mainstream journalism and media industries in supporting the status quo, according to a critical theory associated with the French Marxist Louis Althusser ( 1918–90 ). For Althusser, journalists join the education system and the Church in being the major disseminators and reproducers of the dominant ideology within society, which complements the more coercive role of repressive state apparatuses such as the police, prisons, courts, and armed forces. See also hegemony ; secondary definers...
interpellation Reference library
Dictionary of the Social Sciences
...hailed positions that person as a subject of legal discourses, penal institutions, and state power more generally. Interpellation, for Althusser, is the work of ideological and repressive state apparatuses . These include schools, the mass media, unions, the police, social services, and other institutions that produce certain forms of conformance and ultimately identity. The concept is elaborated in Althusser's influential essay “ Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses ” ( 1971...
ideological state apparatus Quick reference
A Dictionary of Media and Communication (3 ed.)
...state apparatus ( ISA ) For Althusser, the social agencies which help to maintain the current social order, not through coercion (as with what some Marxists have called the ‘repressive state apparatus’ of the armed forces and the police), but by engineering consent ( see also legitimation ; manufacture of consent ; propaganda model ). Such agencies include the educational system, the family, religion, the legal system, and the mass media . These function to reproduce the social relations of production , inculcating the values of the state and...
ideological state apparatus (ISA)
Dictionary of the Social Sciences
...state apparatus (ISA) A concept introduced by Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser in Lenin and Philosophy ( 1971 ). ISAs are those institutions and systems that legitimate and reproduce the state , above all by producing consent to the regime on the part of subordinated groups. For Althusser, religion, education, the legal system, mass culture, and the family are all ISAs—all buttress the ideology of the ruling class by naturalizing its privileges. ISAs are distinguished, however, from what Althusser called repressive state apparatuses (RSAs)....
Ideological State Apparatus Quick reference
A Dictionary of Critical Theory (2 ed.)
...State Apparatus ( ISA ) French Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser ’s concept for what is known in contemporary political discourse as ‘soft power’, i.e. the form of power that operates by means of ideological persuasion rather than violent, physical coercion. The latter ‘hard power’ form is referred to as the Repressive State Apparatus ( RSA ). Ideology, for Althusser, is an essential part of the smooth running of any form of government, even the most violent and repressive governments, because without the active support of at least a...
neo-Marxism Quick reference
A Dictionary of Sports Studies
...of Measured Time ( 1978 ), might cite little of Marx's original work, but is an application of the neo-Marxist insights of Louis Althusser ( 1918–90 ), whose writings on the power of institutions such as education (as elements of the ideological state apparatus (ISA) rather than the repressive state apparatus (RSA) , such as the police or the military) have relevance to the contribution of sport in both the education and the high-performance systems of a society. Important concepts that sustain a neo-Marxist momentum in sports studies include ...
dictatorship of the proletariat Quick reference
Geraldine Lievesley
A Concise Oxford Dictionary of Politics and International Relations (4 ed.)
...as meaning a concentration of power or forces rather than as a repressive situation. A different model of transition is offered in The Civil War in France ( 1871 ) based upon the experience of the Paris Commune. It stressed the immediate dismantling of the state apparatus, the decentralization of power and popular democratic control over and management of civil society. The ‘commune’ and ‘dictatorship’ models coexist uneasily in Marx’s work. Lenin discussed both models in The State and Revolution ( 1917 ). It can be argued that the establishment of...
Althusser, Louis (1918–90) Quick reference
The Concise Oxford Companion to American Literature (2 ed.)
...Ideological State Apparatuses” (1970) in which he introduces the concept of interpellation and offers a critique of instrumental readings of Marx that hold that culture and ideology are merely the superstructural expression of the economic base of production. For Althusser, the state ensures the maintenance of capitalist modes of production through what he calls repressive state apparatuses (domination through violence) and ideological state apparatuses (domination through politics, education, religion, and the arts). In his account, the state should not be...
id n. Quick reference
A Dictionary of Psychology (4 ed.)
...chose the word id , imbuing it with an aura of obscurity and technicality that the original German word lacks. The id is insulated from the preconscious and consciousness by censorship , but it is not synonymous with the unconscious, as stated in many elementary expositions of Freud's theory, because the repressive functions of the ego and many of the functions of the superego are also unconscious. The functions of the id are governed by the primary process . [From Latin id ...
Marxist social work Quick reference
A Dictionary of Social Work and Social Care (2 ed.)
...the day-to-day practice of social work as a site with openings for resistance and class struggle because of the contradictions that exist and the opportunities that exist to exploit them. Another strand sees social work as unequivocally part of the capitalist state’s repressive ideological apparatus , with social workers acting as its ‘soft cops’, and regards the potential for resistance as only existing through workplace trade unionism and radical action out of office hours. See also agents of social control ; Radical Social Work...
Democratization Reference library
The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World
...and Syria seem the most stagnant of the Arab authoritarian regimes with no openness to report and repressive security services fully in charge of domestic politics. A third group of Arab regimes comprises the Iraqi, Lebanese, and Palestinian cases. While various political parties and movements in these countries operate freely, their participation in politics takes place in a chaotic environment either because foreign occupation has caused the collapse of state institutions (Iraq and Palestine) or because continuing, intractable internal discord has constantly...
Authority and Legitimation Reference library
Knut S. Vikør
Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World: Digital Collection
... This contestation of legitimacy is played out within an acceptance of state authority over the law. Thus, most Islamists who argue for a “return to” or “reintroduction of” their conception of Islamic law do so in the framework of a codified state law, where their Islamized rules are also not only imposed by the Islamic state’s repressive apparatus but also defined by the revolutionary state’s organs; the state becomes the collective mujtahid , which can thus dispose ...
Examining Education Reforms of India in the Matrix of Rights and Biopolitics Reference library
Jyoti Dalal
The Oxford Encyclopedia of School Reform
...state power under check while also creating the conditions for the state to legitimize itself as a democratic state. Governing the Population Through his groundbreaking work, Foucault ( 1982 , 1990 , 2004 ; Foucault et al., 1988 ) examined subject formation, pointing out that since the 16th century , a new political form of power developed, known as the state. 1 As against the earlier deductive, repressive monarchical power the state was interested in the life of its subjects so that its power could be consensual and productive. 2 The state was no...
The Political Economy of the Developmental State in Latin America Reference library
José Carlos Orihuela
The Oxford Encyclopedia of Latin American Politics
...Economy of the Developmental State in Latin America Is there a developmental state in Latin America? Has it survived the neoliberal turn? Addressing these questions requires a definition of developmental state. There are two broad definitions: one is ideal-theoretical and the other is fluid-historical. The ideal definition refers to a technocratic state that successfully promotes industrialization. Although Peter Evans ( 1995 ) called developmental states the result of the embeddedness and autonomy of the state’s apparatus in promoting industrialization,...
