LOUIS ALTHUSSER: İDEOLOJİ, DEVLET AYGITLARI VE ELEŞTİRİSİ

• Published in: Alternatif politika Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 288 - 317
• Main Author: SUBAŞİ, Erol
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English; Turkish
• Published: Rasim Özgür DÖNMEZ 2021; Rasim Ozgur DONMEZ
• Subjects: Contemporary Philosophy; Marxism; Political Philosophy; Sociology of Politics; Ideological State Apparatuses; Political Sociology; Louis Althusser; Ideology, State

French philosopher Louis Althusser (1918-1990) has been one of the most influential figures in Marxist theory in the postwar period. The aim of this study is to provide a critical analysis of Althusser’s understanding of State apparatuses and ideology. The problematic is the theoretical possibilities and limitations offered by the Althusserian concepts of ideology and state apparatus conception in the field of state theory. The main argument is that although Althusser has made a significant contribution in the sense that he goes beyond the classical Marxist theoretical approach, considering capitalist state as a repressive institutional core, the analytical framework he draws, suffers from problems caused by structural-functionalism, instrumentalism, and the negative image of the state, as it does not take into account the dynamic and strategic-causal effects of social struggles. The study positions itself within a critical social science methodology that feeds on critical realism and relational Marxism. Moreover, the study adopted a qualitative assessment method based on theoretical discussion conducted over the primary texts written by Althusser on the subject and secondary texts written about him. However, the study did not engage in a complete discussion of Althusser’s intellectual corpus nor a general discussion of the Marxist theory of the state, but rather limited itself to critically following Althusser’s intellectual trajectory on the subject.