DB 3.2

1.What is a Repressive State Apparatus? Why does Althusser call it “repressive”? Can we explain his choice of words here? Give an example.

The repressive state apparatus refers to the police, courts, prisons, and military. When the police and their specialized auxiliary teams “cannot control the situation,” they will directly intervene as an additional amount of pressure to suppress them. It also refers to the heads of state and the government above all this and administrative agencies. Which is mainly legal violence that the government would choose to do when thighs are out of control.

  1. Let’s do the same for the Ideological State Apparatuses. What are they, how do they seem to work?

The ideological state apparatus is the real material basis on which the “political unconscious” depends, is the territory for institutionalized discipline and legalized “production” of individuals, and a set of seemingly mild but violent social control tools.

  1. Important: this question will appear on our exam: How are the Repressive and Ideological State Apparatuses different from each other? What is the difference between the two?

There is only one repressive state apparatus, but there are many ideological state apparatuses. And the unified repressive state apparatus is entirely in the public domain; on the contrary, most of the ideological state apparatuses, which are decentralized, are part of the private domain. Churches, parties, labor unions, families, certain schools, most newspapers, various cultural speculations, etc., are all private.

  1. Post an example of ideology. This could be a piece of writing, an image, video, pdf document, visual art, or music, a clip from a movie. Next to your example, specify if this is an example of repressive or ideological apparatuses at work.

This is a photo of Black people in jail. I want to use it as an example of ideology that shows racism causes the innocents to be forced to go to jail, which is also an ideological apparatus.

DB 3.1


Hint: One way to approach this is as follows




I think ideology is a belief that a group of people’s thoughts, ideas, and values that they express in their life, like racism and sexism, also Capitalism and communism. Ideology is also around us, for example, I like sweets and hate bitter, and you have the same opinion as me, so does some of the other people, then now we had formed “sweet-ism”. Religions are a kind of ideology that might be a better example. While a king of ideology exists, there are usually or more forms of ideologies that are against that idea, back to my example, there might have “bitter-ism”, “sour-ism” or “spicy-ism” happening and create conflict.

2. How do you understand the difference between conservative and liberal ideology in US politics? What seems to be a big difference, the dividing line? Given an example to back up your arguments.

Hint: try to identify keywords (concepts) that play a big role in making someone consider themselves to be liberal or conservative. Then, explain in your own words what those keywords (concepts) mean.

Liberal tend to increase government control of trade and commerce, but don’t support restrictions on freedom of speech, sexual issues, beliefs, and other personal freedoms, while Conservative tend to increase restrictions on personal behavior, but don’t support restrictions on trade, business, wealth and property appreciation. Their opinion on government control and personal freedom are mostly opposite, Liberal is more close to Democratic and Conservative for Republican.


Althusser’s definition of ideology is that it’s an important and useful tool that can be used in school, media campaigns, and politics. Which are the places and sources that we people usually get the information from, people can be “brain-washed” to have whatever the idea that the government wants us to have. For example, if the government united with the media and changed the teaching materials to tell people that we’re living inside a TV where outside they have Gods that are watching us, of course, at first people wouldn’t believe it, but as time passes through, they will start to take this as fact.

DB 2.2

1. Why do think Southern racist politicians chose to frame their defense of racial segregation through the language of “law and order”? What special advantages was this choice of words going to give them?

Southern racist politicians chose to frame their defense of racial segregation through the language of “law and order”, because they can make their discrinmination to seem more reasonable legitimate, more over, to control people’s thoughts.

2. Do you think the Southern Strategy is still influencing American politics? Give an example supporting your answer.

I think Southern Strategy is still influencing American politics, for example, Donald Trump. I don’t know much about him, all I know is that he’s a racist and has lots of White votes for him. As long as humans exist, so do conflicts, those thoughts just learn to hide in the people’s minds, discrimination and stereotypes would never actually go away.

DB 2.1

1. M. Alexander claims that the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. today is deeply wrong. Explain her argument by referring to the various examples she mentions to backup her point. (see p. 1-2)

M. Alexander claims that the main explanation of why so many people are sent to jail in the U.S. today is deeply wrong, due to the reason that the U.S. currently has the incarceration rate in the world, and most of them are colored people, especially Blacks. At the push of the media campaign, people started to form a stereotype that Blacks are related to cracks. Alexander claimed that “the crack crisis might be the U.S. government’s plan to rigged Blacks.”

2. Why is it that racial disparities in the rates of incarceration “cannot be explained by rates of drug crimes”?

The racial disparities in the rates of incarceration can’t be explained by rates of drug crimes, because the government were mainly focused on Blacks or colored people, if Whites committed crime, they would be punished way less than the Blacks. Alexander wrote that “In some states, black men have been admitted to prison on drug charges at rates twenty to fifty times greater than those of white men.”

3. How do you understand the phrase: “the American penal system has emerged as a system of social control unparalleled in world history.”?

I think it’s a satire, American government used its penal system to wipe out races they don’t like, this action is the first-ever compared to other countries.

Hsuan Hua Chen-DB 1

Hello guys, my name is Hsuanhua Chen, you may call me Ella it would be easier. This is my second semester at BMCC. My major is Studio Art. I’m still not sure about the future. My interests are gaming, drawing, anything related to anime, recently my favorite anime is Golden Kamuy, and Hyakunosuke Ogata is my favorite character.