Post by samitch on Feb 17, 2016 1:43:56 GMT
I enjoyed most of Butler's essay after having read Althusser, in particular, her discussion on the power of grammar and the means by which the reproduction of linguistic skills constitutes us as subjects, which was an interesting element of the subjectivation process. However, one element of Althusser and Butler that I found myself struggling to grasp was the structuralist foundations of their work and the manner in which structures (usually capitalist ones) inform ideology. For me though, I wonder what, for folks like Butler and Althusser, comes before the structure? Similarly, what for post-structuralists and post-modernists comes before ideology?
I know this may seem like a "chicken or the egg" question, but it is one question that no one seems to clearly interrogate. I'd like to get an idea of what you all think on this issue because, although this week's readings focus on the processes of becoming subjected to ideology, what comes before ideology? Also, do you all personally identify as structuralist or post-structuralists and how does that inform your own work?
I know this may seem like a "chicken or the egg" question, but it is one question that no one seems to clearly interrogate. I'd like to get an idea of what you all think on this issue because, although this week's readings focus on the processes of becoming subjected to ideology, what comes before ideology? Also, do you all personally identify as structuralist or post-structuralists and how does that inform your own work?
I like Jake's interpretations of ideology here, with the caveat that I am not sure that "structure" and "materiality" are all that different from the post-structuralist's "rhetoric" as the pre-ideology. After all, in order to build the structures which create the materiality, the bourgeoisie must first convince an infrastructure to accept their terms as true. Butler (I appear to be quoting her a lot tonight) would argue that the proletariat must first agree to be subjected to the structure - likely through repeated and encouraged actions which spawn a particular belief eventually. Althusser argues in the beginning of Ideologies that the wage is the persuasive appeal made to quiet and control the infrastructure. So, maybe rhetoric - those "bourgeoisie lies" is really at the heart of it all, no matter what paradigm you fall under.