Althusser looks at how all of us are subjects in this world and how we have all been interpellated

into believing things that may or may not be true.

In Part I he says that all " ideological state apparatuses contribute to the same result, the
reproduction of the relations of production". i.e. all education , media, church, school contribute
to the same thing , which is the reprodution of the relations of the production. Reproduction of
the relations of production means it keeps the system in place. So it reproduces the values which
are already in production, so it(ISAs) reproduces what we have been conditioned to think from a
long time ago. So reproduction of values , ideology keeps the system maintained and everybdy
on the same path.

The ISAs condition us or interpellate us. Education ISA is no different and it conditions us to the
way we should funciton in society from raising our hand to the answers we know to saying sorry
thank you etc,

Even if you say i completely reject any kind of interpellation, is also a conditioning of a diff
kind. Because you are also conditioned , just that you are conditioned by the people who reject
the conditioning. Basically you cant escape being conditioned

Althusser starts by saying that subject is a person (you) and they become a subject of a particular
ideology and they are a subject position, which means subject has a position. e.g. they could be a
mother,father, teacher,nurse, graduate. As a mother they would take care of their children and
even if they dont care of their children, they still are mother because they have the act of leaving
the children or not taking care of the children..

Althusser believes that to become a subject you have to be hailed. He likened this to someone
walking on the street who is called " hey you" and you turn back to his call, and thats when you
become subject of ideology. You recognize yourself as a subject position in this ideology.On
being called, you feel like oh iam a girl, so you recognize yourself in that ideology. It is like
when ads on TV are running and saying " hey you, you wouldnt want to miss out on this sale,
would you? ", where infact that you is not literally you. That ad is not telling you literally, its
telling this to a camera, but we recognize that ad as talking to ourselves. But its not you literally.
So that why we call it a misrecognition because you recognize it's you but it is not really you, it
is everyone basically.

So just because ideology hails you , doesnt necessarily mean you are influenced by it.

Althusser said you are hailed at different points in life. you begin to develop self awareness as a
child.Some say you are hailed at diff points. there is a debate. Some believe that you are always
already subject before you are even born; that is to say, the ideology pre-exists you. e.g. you are
already being interpellated when you are born and someone is like " hey, its a girl". So the
discourses are already set for you even before you are born.

Then Althusser looks at material practices in everyday life. E.g. when you born girl, there are
material practices which are enforced on her like clothes etc and eth that society has stipulated
that this is what a girl should do.

Now just because you are influenced by ideology, doesn't mean you are influenced by all
ideologies just because they have you or they might speak to you. e.g. If you have lived your life
quite as a non racist person and someone says sth racist, you dont automatically become racist
just because of that. So you will have the capability to reject some ideologies but others are just
as familiar to you and you cant just recognise them, coz they feel like common sense really. e.g.
the practise of shaking hand in itself is an example of ideology because we have been taught that
it is the right thing to do. And it doesnt seem strange and we dont question it.

Althusser said that once you try to get out of that ideology, you cant truly escape it and all you
can do is just to accept it and take it. Thats what lot of people do and they critique it coz while
they cant escape it completely , they can critique it.

This brings the question that how much of agency do you have in your own life to exercise some
form of free will and power over your own life.

Althusser did not agree that superstructure was determined by the economic base. He believed
that ideology is not determined by the economic base in the first instance(what marx believed),
rather in the last instance.It is a process of interaction bw base and superstructure as both can
affect each other. They might be tied to each other but the superstructure may not necessarily
reflect the economic base. The superstrcuture might challenge the economic base or even escape
it. In Althuserrian model, humans have more agency, in the sense, we can examine ourselves and
our situation. we cant necessarily escape it entirely but we do have some agency to change and to
critique.

Althusser says" what is represented in ideology is not the system of real relations which will
govern the existence of individuals but the imaginary relation of those individuals to the real
relations in which they live. e.g. lets talk about an imaginary construction : Austrailia is the land
of fair guy. Thats what we believe and we would like to think and thats what ideology has told us
which is not necessarily the truth. Real relations are : the truth what actually happens in real life.
It might not be exactly what we imagined, but its very believed and a lot of people will defend it
till the last instance. Like lot of people will defend australia as land of all fair if anyone critiques
it, even though it might not necessarily be the case. So it is still real within that imaginary
construction because it relates to how we might see something that is imaginary but it affects
how we relate to the real world.

So it really affects the way people live their lives in relation to the world but it is imaginary since
it discourages a full understanding of the conditions which govern our existence. So it still is
imaginary but it affects us which is real, but in the end it is still imaginary and not the real thing.
But it does affect on how we look at the world.

So what is represented in ideology is not the system of real relations that govern the existence of
individuals, as in it is not the real thing but the imaginary relation of those individual to the real
realtions in which they live.