Language and ideology: Althusser's theory of ideology

Publication date: Available online 17 July 2018Source: Language SciencesAuthor(s): Kyong Deock KangAbstractAlthusser's work constitutes a decisive moment in the problem of ideology by conceptualizing it as a universal element of society operating on its own materiality: ideology is not a simple error, false consciousness or misrepresentation but rather a system of representations (images, myths, ideas or concepts), the fundamental mechanism of which depends on Lacan's theory of the symbolic. Though Althusser imports Lacan's theory of the symbolic in elaborating the theory of ideology, his theorization disagrees with Lacan's. Lacan privileges language as the structure of the unconscious. Althusser, while suggesting that the general theory of the signifier could provide a general theory for the theory of the unconscious, warns that “the general theory of the signifier should be distinguished from the regional theory of language”. In fact, Althusser did not confine the general structure of the unconscious and thus of ideology to a linguistic model but rather addressed it in more general terms to the extent that he associated it with gestures, feelings, modes of behaviour, prohibitions, permissions, and so on. But it is also true that he did not elaborate on this point. Thus, I would like to 1) reveal a theoretical tension in Althusser's theorization of ideology: the linguistic and nonlinguistic (Pascal model) aspects of interpellation, and 2) ask whether it is possible to ex...

Source: Language Sciences - July 18, 2018 Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research