welcome to this tutor to you sociology topic video looking at marx's theories of crime and deviance focusing on the work of louis althusa althusser was a structural marxist and he suggested that marxism could be viewed as a science due to its objective study of social institutions and structures he argued that the state was a tool of the ruling class his main objective was to reproduce inequality in society by controlling the masses althusser drew his ideas from marx's concepts of the infrastructure or economic base controlling the superstructure of society the social institutions and cultural aspects of social life althus argued that the ruling class controlled the working classes by using social institutions such as religion media and education this was achieved according to althusa through two state apparatuses the ideological state apparatus controlled the masses through altering the way they thought about society and this was achieved through social institutions such as education media religion and the family the repressive state apparatus controlled the masses through force and this was the role of the police the armed forces and the legal system both the ideological state apparatus and the repressive state apparatus control the masses the isa controller masses through informal social controls by passing on the dominant norms and values of the ruling class through social institutions we can see this evidence in education with the teaching of hierarchies obedience and conformity in the family where parents socialize their children into working hard and needing to provide for their families in religion through promising that hard work and suffering in this life will lead to rewards in the next and finally through the media by setting examples of how we should behave and promoting conformity and obedience by marginalizing those that don't the ideological state apparatus's main purpose was to make sure that the masses were indoctrinated into the ruling class ideology and if this was successful people would control their own behaviors promoting ideas such as meritocracy gave the working class a sense of hope and also legitimized inequality by making them believe that they had not worked hard enough or they weren't smart enough to obtain higher status in society according to althusser this was a myth and the working class were deliberately kept in their place by the state the isa also legitimized the highest status that the ruling class elites had with the promotion of ruling class behaviors as desirable and therefore as the elite demonstrated these qualities they were fit to have a higher status than the working class however althusa argued that some people rejected this ideology and this rendered the ideological state apparatus ineffective well it's a smaller section of society that does this rejecting the dominant ideology needs to be tackled in another way so that existing social order is not challenged this is the role of the repressive state apparatus to re-establish social control through force the police security service armed forces and legal system were responsible for controlling those that dissented against the established order and this was achieved through formal social control such as imprisonment fines and in some extreme cases physical violence evidence of the repressive state apparatus can be seen in many recent events the reactions of the police to the 2011 riots across the country can be seen as an attempt to restore the established social order with the police acting on behalf of the ruling classes to protect property similar responses can be found in the recent police actions against black lives matter protesters across the usa with police using rubber bullets and water cannons to disperse protests and the national guard and federal agents called to deal with resistance in some states these tactics have been used before in the uk most notably in the poll tax riots of the early 1990s and the minor strike in the early 1980s with accusations of police using unnecessary force in particular at all grief in evaluating althusa we have to note that his ideas were based upon a theoretical view rather than actual research which negates his idea of marxism being a science we can also argue that many people reject the ideologies of the ruling class yet conform to everyday life without the need for the repressive state apparatus to intervene some protests pass off peacefully and it can be argued that the democratic principles of most western states would suggest that protests is a form of direct political action and that it is the government's duty to consent to the will of the people this can be evidenced by changes to a-level results following protests in the summer of 2020 that concludes this tuesday you sociology topic video looking at marx's theories of crime and deviance focusing on the work of libby alfiza thanks for watching