RSA Plus ISA Equals Ideology In Some Way Or Another

Karl Marx

Have you ever heard of the terms, RSA and ISA?  If not, you’re not alone.  However, let’s change that.  First, let’s talk about RSA and what it stands for.  RSA means Repressive StateApparatus.  It is like the MarxistTheory, which is philosophy that is strongly influenced by Karl Marx’s theory, and if you do not know what the Karl Marx’s theory is, it is essentially shining a light on class struggle.  The bourgeoisies, which were the upper class, and the proletariats, the lower class, did not see eye to eye and Marx believed in change by seeking better opportunities to the working class.  However RSA functions by violence and contains the government, administration, army, police, courts, prisons, and many more institutes that are public domains, so what does that mean for ISA?

ISA stands for Ideological State Apparatus.  It has a certain number of realities that present themselves to an observer in the form of distinct and specialized institutions.  These institutions could be a church or certain schools.  ISA functions as a private domain, or institution like stated before.  Along with that, it functions by ideology.  Now ideology is a complicated term to understand.  Yes, it is the science of ideas, but it can be in the forms of economics or political theory and policy.  What is interesting about this is that since “ideological” is in the term, it makes since that it functions by ideology.  What I found interesting, and readers may agree, is that church’s and school’s embody the works of ISA.  However, ISA is not always as good as it sounds, it may surprise you that it ranks up beside RSA.

Protesting Police

Being one that is heavily into the news, or tries to be at least, relating actions of ISA and RSA into the news may be interesting.  The first case can simply be the Ferguson, Missouri.  The Ferguson case became a nationwide case that took people by surprise.  It included violence and police brutality and racial issues within Missouri and eventually the country.  With the use of media, it became an ongoing news report that many have never seen before, however it reflected back to segregation and civil rights for African Americans.  Ideology can be brought into this in terms of the idea of racism, which then turns into politics.  Also, Marxist theory can be introduced into this matter, not by a divide in the upper and working class, but the divide in Caucasians and African Americans.  For a film example, in the Monty Python and the Holy Grail, King Arthur comes and claims his legitimacy, that essentially at the time was the ideological order, or Marxist’s theories on what needed to change with the order of power, and the King resorts to being direct in his orders when the “peasants” refuse to listen and the King uses his authority on them.  Finally, an example of ISA can be a simple painting of someone praying.  It displays religion, but can also be a sign and interpreted by viewers.  It can also cause a stir and get people angry over the display of religion, however, in the Constitution we have the freedom of religion and that can include the right to display religion.

Prayer

ISA and RSA are all around us.  It just takes a moment to understand what they both mean and have a better understanding of ideology and how it is all around us.