Althusser: Is education just capitalist ideology?
Tuesday, 10th March 18:30 – 20:00
Althusser was an influential French Marxist thinker whose theories about education are familiar to every undergraduate and A-level sociology student.
Capitalism secures its own reproduction by means of both violence and ideology. The Repressive State Apparatus (police, courts, military) keeps workers in check with physical threats, while the Ideological State Apparatus (schools, religion, media, family, sport) helps to disseminate ruling class ideas as common sense.
Are we just reproducing capitalism in our classrooms? How far can we realistically go in challenging the dominant capitalist ideology? Is Althusser right that education is more dominant even than the media? Shouldn’t PE teachers really be seen as part of the Repressive State Apparatus?
Recommended reading: "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses" by Althusser:
What to expect
After a short introductory talk, we will discuss the topic in small groups, with some time to feed back to the whole room.
Most of our events have somewhere between 10-30 attendees.
We aim for every event to be accessible to everyone, regardless of any prior knowledge!