Publisher's Synopsis
Louis Althusser's renowned short text 'Ideology andï+½Ideological State Apparatuses' radically transformed theï+½concept of the subject, the understanding of the stateï+½and even the very frameworks of cultural, political andï+½literary theory. The text has influenced thinkers such asï+½Judith Butler, Ernesto Laclau and Slavoj Zizek.The piece is, in fact, an extract from a much longer book,ï+½On the Reproduction of Capitalism, until now unavailableï+½in English. Its publication makes possible a reappraisalï+½of seminal Althusserian texts already available in English,ï+½their place in Althusser's oeuvre and the relevance ofï+½his ideas for contemporary theory. On the Reproductionï+½of Capitalism develops Althusser's conception of historicalï+½materialism, outlining the conditions of reproductionï+½in capitalist society and the revolutionary struggle forï+½its overthrow.Written in the afterglow of May 1968, the text addressesï+½a question that continues to haunt us today: in a societyï+½that proclaims its attachment to the ideals of liberty andï+½equality, why do we witness the ever-renewed reproductionï+½of relations of domination? Both a conceptuallyï+½innovative text and a key theoretical tool for activists,ï+½On the Reproduction of Capitalism is an essential additionï+½to the corpus of the twentieth-century Left.
