Abstract The paper examines the article "Contradiction and Overdetermination" by Louis Althusser where Althusser imparts a complex and insightful evaluation of Marxist thought and ideology. The paper discusses how Althusser sought to reveal that there was a complex set of principles behind Marxist theoretical applications. The paper explains his belief that this complexity causes more empirical factors to be needed for analysis, rather than merely conflicting ideas that existed within single events.
From the Paper "The article "Contradiction and Overdetermination" by Louis Althusser represents a redefining of Marxist ideology within the construct of theories on political and governmental influences on the economy. In many ways, Althusser often disagrees with Marxist theory being used to understand a single event within society as being a casual factor in determining the rise or fall of any particular economic infrastructure. The word "contradiction" was often used to reveal contradicting facets of any particular society that was slowly to erode because of various problems within a purely economic status quo amongst Marxist theoreticians. Althusser sought to reveal that there was a complex set of principles behind Marxist theoretical applications, which had to be considered."
Abstract Using well-known Marxist philosophers including Foucault and Althusser, this paper discusses the way in which the culture of power in the United States attempted to keep the Japanese Nisei, second generation in the United States, from prospering in their new home.The author analyses the laws and state apparatuses involved in keeping the Nisei from rising and thriving in society.
From the Paper "In the chapter "The Means of Correct Training" of Michel Foucault's book Discipline and Punish, Foucault states, ?The chief function of the disciplinary power is to ?train,? rather than to select or to very, or no doubt, to train in order to levy and select all the more? (188). It is the attempt of the disciplines of "imprisonment" and "schooling" to create docile bodies to maximize economic production. According to Marxist theory, as applied by Louis Althusser in his essay "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses", in a capitalistic state, the economy is the basis for society, and all apparatuses and disciplines focus around the capitalists and the accumulation of wealth. Althusser states, ?. . . Marx conceived the structure of every society as constituted by "levels" or "instances" articulated by a specific determination: the infrastructure, or economic base and the super structure? (134). However, in the capitalists attempt to train individuals to become docile bodies for the economic base to use as a means of reproduction of the conditions of production, those who do not conform to the rules, do not measure up to standards of intellect, or those that do not have the same racial background as the ruling class, are manufactured as delinquents or useless people. The ruling class uses the "imprisonment" and "schooling" disciplines to create a sense of uselessness in the people who are of no use or pose a threat to the ruling class. By encouraging delinquency in its enemies, the ruling class is able to control people they feel are of no use to them."
Abstract This paper explains that philosopher Donna Jeanne Haraway draws from the tradition of Louis Althusser and Martin Heidegger to develop her hypotheses outlining the nature of the interspecies relationship between people and animal or "hailing". As interpreted by Althusser and Heidegger, the author relates that "hail", which is from the archaic word interpellate, is given an additional meaning by Haraway. Based on Haraway's work, the paper concludes that the "hailing" of animals call people to account for the way they affect the lives of animals, and the "hailing" of people call animals to a close, inseparable, interspecies relationship bound within the structure of human society.
From the Paper "Haraway adds to these two meanings of hail a third, the more conventional meaning of interpellation. Animals hail people to "account for the regimes in which they and we must live", and by doing so, they challenge people to justify the practices of society which create the circumstances of life that animals and people must live in. The effect of the hail is threefold: firstly, humans hail animals, creating a subject out of animals by the hail, bringing animals into our social discourse of power."
From the Paper "It is clear that recent discourse concerning communities, online or otherwise, has resulted in diverse assertions concerning exactly which structures among human relations constitute a community. A precise analysis of the disparity between such perceptions is essential to acquire a complete understanding of the means by which communities truly function. Essays written by Howard Rheingold, John Perry Barlow, and other writers, recounting several of their own experiences in communities, unfold the structure of communities, specifically, those accessed online. Their writings have offered sound definitions of community, whereby one may determine the questionable stability of online social organizations, while evaluating their propensity for conflict, intimacy, communication, and spirit. "
Tags:althusser, freud, lambdamoo, moo, mud, mush, virtual, well
Abstract The paper looks at power relations in the film " The Color Purple" as they relate to gender and race and how they manifest themselves.
From the Paper "The film, The Color Purple, teems with vivid descriptions regarding the power structures of the early twentieth century, particularly those of the southern United States; upon close evaluation, the film also thoroughly illustrates concepts related to the Foucauldian and, to an extent, Althussarian interpretations of power. Since certain qualities of power are universal, such as its relationship with submission, objectives, and resistance, various exertions of power are surprisingly similar, insofar that The Color Purple's depictions of the power relations concerning race and those that concern gender are almost identical."
Abstract The paper describes how Orton employs a variety of signs and symbols in "What the Butler Saw" to facilitate interpretation and more importantly, misinterpretation in the Prentice house. It discusses how the playwright relies on mayhem as a dramatic tool, but beyond the madness there is a method that Orton wants us to evaluate gender, crime and the medical establishment with.
From the Paper ""Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar," Sigmund Freud is quoted as saying, to which Geraldine Barclay replies, "But it is a cigar!" So ends Joe Orton's 1969 play, Geraldine by now having been through sexual harassment, gender transformation and internment in an institution of mental health. "What The Butler Saw" is a play primarily obsessed with the interpretationaE"and misinterpretationaE"of symbols, signs and language. This paper will examine the ways in which each of the characters function to interpret the world of the play and the way that their interpretation informs us about them and their world."
