Through the Multicultural Glass: Althusser, Ideology and Race Relations in Post-Civil Rights America
Year: 2005
Type: article
Abstract: In 1996, an edited volume devoted to Stuart Hall's work published the essay ‘Gramsci's Relevance for the Study of Race and Ethnicity’. Central to Hall's analysis was Gramsci's deployment of the concept of hegemony. This article hopes to accomplish parallel insights on race and multiculturalism by going through the concept of ideology as theorized by Althusser. A thoroughgoing and critical theory of ideology is currently missing from multiculturalism. When ideology is invoked, it either goes through a Marxist refutation of the racial concept or it is posed as a problem that needs to be transcended rather than a constitutive part of the ideological struggle over race. Just as Hall reminds us that Gramsci's theory of hegemony must be taken in the context of Gramsci's Marxist problematic, this article notes that Althusser's theory of ideology must be taken in the context of his commitment to historical materialism. However, in order to analyze the relevance of Althusser's theory of ideology for the study of race and multiculturalism (something which did not appear in Althusser's work), the author appropriates his insights sans his problematic of historical materialism. Althusser's theory is useful for a study of race, which is as much a problem at the ideological as it is at the material level. Furthermore, Althusser's discourse on ideology enriches debates about race and multiculturalism to the extent that his general insights on ideology are appropriate for such an analysis. In this explication, the author presents a brief introduction to the multiple levels of Althusser's theory of ideology. Then, he appropriates Althusser's general insights and relevance, determining the most pertinent moments in his theory for the study of race and multiculturalism. Last, the author poses the problem of color-blind discourses on race.
Source: Policy Futures in Education
Author: Zeus Leonardo
Institution: California State University, Long Beach
Language: English
Topic: Political theory and Gramsci
Subfield: Sociology and Political Science
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
OpenAlex ID: W1833517430