Louis Althusser

In his essay "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses," Althusser argued that the state maintains power through both repressive institutions like police and military and ideological ones such as schools, churches, the family, and media. These ideological state apparatuses reproduce social relations by interpellating individuals as obedient subjects.

Althusser argued that Marx's thought underwent a decisive theoretical rupture around 1845, separating his early philosophical/humanist writings from the scientific analysis of Capital. He contended that mature Marxism should be read as a science of social structures, not as a philosophy of human nature or alienation.

In November 1980, Althusser strangled his wife Hélène Rytmann-Legotien during a psychotic episode. He was declared unfit to stand trial on grounds of mental illness and was committed to a psychiatric hospital, where he remained until his death in 1990.

Althusser's structuralist Marxism influenced a generation of thinkers, including his students Étienne Balibar, Nicos Poulantzas, and Régis Debray. His ideas also shaped literary and cultural theory through figures like Terry Eagleton and Pierre Macherey.