Signs Address Somebody

Within an ideological “apparatus”, an individual is a subject. Ideologies are created “for” certain subjects; i.e. individuals or “agents, acting out freely” by particular people or institutions who have some reason to transfer meaning to subjects through belief systems using signs, symbols, signifiers and receivers. It is within the transference of such things where actual meaning occurs through the subject. It is within the transference through belief systems, and signs that continue the reproduction of such beliefs, reciprocating one set of values onto another set of values. A sign can only hold meaning, if it is meaningful to someone. “Therefore, all signs depend for their signifying process on the existence of specific, concrete, receivers, people for whom and in whose systems of belief, have meaning”. Ideology gains power through the process of people replacing significance within those signs. It is through the cycle of passing signifiers through signs to people or subjects; that the process maintains a constant. One may not continue survive without the other. Advertisers and marketing organizations use this transference of ideas to sell their products or continue a certain belief system that aids in the selling of their products. By turning products into signifiers, advertisements use signs that can be transferred in exchange for a plethora of meanings; but it is within the person where the meanings “autonomously” continue to flow. The space between “what means” and “what it means”, is the relationship between the sign and the receiver. The receiver is looked upon as being an active participant as an “active receiver” because a signs’ use is only created in the advertisements through the receiver. As an invisible force, ideology is created and continues on through the fact that we are active ‘within it’. We don’t perceive ourselves as receivers therefore we allow it to work through us. We continue the belief; with the idea of what is true never questioning it, and always allowing it to continue to be “true”. Ideology “is based on false assumptions”, of something that “need not be questioned”, because it is seen as already valid. Time and the acceptance of ideas over time also allows for ideology to continue on its path of blind acceptance. Advertisements use the blind acceptance of time in coercion with the idea of freedom to allow the subjects to believe they are free when choosing such products. The relationship between the ad and ourselves is a constant act, when creating ads, advertisers allow receivers to perceive ideas through a lack of content. Without showing actual purpose of the ad, subjects are “free” to choose meaning, the entire time being led to believe in something that isn’t even there. “Things ‘mean’ to us, and we give this meaning to the product, on the basis of an irrational mental leap invited by the form of the advertisement. By allowing its receivers to believe they are free, ensues the idea that its receivers have choices to freely choose how we “create” ourselves. We believe that by buying certain products we are freely choosing how we are to be perceived, who we are is created by what we buy. Currency’s value only becomes possible through an exchange. Prices are not fixed; but replaced as value through transference. What products are worth to the consumer, if the consumer chooses to buy such products are the justifications of prices. Just as currency is valued by its transference to one system to another, so are signs as they are set to replace something else. Many times advertisements use signifiers through transference of difference. Signifiers within ads usually hold significance outside the ad itself. “Ideas are maintained not in a vacuum of the abstract but through their active use: values exist not ‘in’ things but in their transference.” Signs are used to be associated with certain belief systems, by buying these products in connection to such signs one is buying into a certain belief system. Advertisers also use the ideology to brainwash the masses into buying their products. They turn on associations to through symbols, and connecting certain ideas with other ideas, such as, if you buy this car YOU will be as elegant and luxurious as this girl.

Corporations.

Corporations have evolved into an uncontrollable evil. They are psychopathic in nature. Whether it is double dipping into taxpayers’ hard earned money, drying up natural resources that don’t solely belong to them, killing endangered species or aiding in the perpetuation of slave labor. They contain no empathetic qualities what so ever. They hold no accountability to the wrong they commit legally or socially. Their main purpose for survival is money and really good lawyers.

Through mass production there are no ethics involved, its business, no value system. The only system enacted within a corporation is the necessity to reproduce the process of production through the sole purpose of profit. They make a product; they market a product, and sell the product. By taking natural resources, or ruining the ones that are already in place they make the product. Through expensive lawyers, marketing teams, public relations teams and advertising teams they brainwash the American public into thinking they need such product. Even though the product was created by some poor factory worker in a third world country, seeing less than pennies to the dollar for what the product is being sold for and or worth. They sell, for the most part faulty, if not dispensable products, which last for the least amount of time possible, only to be thrown in the trash and replaced by repurchasing. Continuing the cycle of production, thus making corporations richer than they’ve ever been.

The evolution of the corporation to what it has become today, took many years, and is in no sense a reflection of what they were originally created for. Riding on the coat tails of the 14^th Amendment, “Born men will be free” and meant to free black slaves after the Civil War, 50 years and after many court decisions the 14^th Amendment bestowed corporations with the rights of individuals. A right they would take and mold into the multi-billion dollar industries they are now. Initially structured as charters corporations use to build bridges and roads, they aided the community. After gaining their individuality they initiated a new kind of power though, the power no accountability. Corporations could and can now do just about anything they want, with little to no accountability. There is no defined role, therefore there is no one person responsible. Structurally run with board members and stockholders at the top, there is no one person to blame. Under the top tier lies management, and then there are workers or producers. The top tier has nothing to do with what happens in the factory setting; all they know is that stuff is coming out and they are making money.

To lessen the burden of exterior costs Corporations like to make other people pay for things they themselves think they shouldn’t have to pay for. Externalities are when something exists outside of production that a company has to pay for, such as pollution. Something that affects all Americans and is created by the company, but the company doesn’t want to deal with. So they attain government subsidies, and grants, they lobby for an estimated $20-50 million dollars a year in the “interest” of others, but end up taking for themselves. The American people end up taking the “burden” of Corporate Welfare for the idea that is for the “betterment” of society.

Dueling this omnipotent entity seems to be an idealistic impossibility. Like a blob of greed that grows without recourse, bypassing laws, transgressing human compassion for the lively-hood of a psychopathic profit machine. We can do something, there will be a better American tomorrow, and we do have a choice. Through educating the devastations that have occurred through the realities of wrongdoing of this “business”, we can choose to not give them our money. We can create alternative ways to get products we need, to not have to go through the product selection of these monstrous monopolies. By not buying into their ideologies, they will have to change their evil ways to regain our buying power, for us, the conversationalist consumer, the educated consumer, the responsible consumer.

Ideology and Ideological State Apparatus, Louis Althusser

From Althusser’s perspective we are all subjects, predetermined to social beliefs beyond our control, centralized within the State setting we are unconsciously being conditioned. The State Apparatus being any governing body and socially acceptable beliefs being ideology. These societal beliefs were set into place to alienate us into believing this is the way to be and that no other way exists. By doing this, us subjects are easier to manipulate, to control. Through alienation the power of reproducing ideology takes place, which is what brainwashes the subjects into continuing its current belief system. By believing such system is enacted without question thus continues the reproduction of the Ideological Apparatus.

In examining the central forces of ideology Althusser breaks down the entire State Apparatus from a productive standpoint. He begins this investigation by first looking through the cycles of productive influences. He says that economist judge and evaluate from the perspective of the necessity to acquire revenue, such that is the stance of the capitalist. It is under the firm, which the inner workings of the capitalist extend, they have no insight into the actual conditions of the production, because they only care about their own output and no one else’s. Their output depends upon supply, and the reproductive process to continue the demand of the supply.

To reproduce the labor power, the firm secures their ability to survive they continue to keep labor power going; they continue to stay in business. This process, which takes no place within the firm, takes place to further production through labor. Wages are what is used to keep the workers, who are in charge of producing, coming back day in and day out. Wages are in no way related to how the labor is, whether it be good, bad, hard working, how much is produced, etc. It is not a set worth. The lowest wage possible to continue production is what keeps labor power going through wages. Althusser continues on to connect the competence of the labor due to apprenticeships or education and later to ideology hidden within such education. Education splits classes leading some to blue color and the other into management, perhaps one day up into the superstructure. The educated are connected to ideology, which is passed through certain educational institutions.

Continuing to recite reproductive qualities into the relations of production Althusser then defines different layers embedded within the societal structuring. Breaking society into different levels based upon their play within the ‘social whole”, Althusser citing “Marist conception”, depicts the infrastructure and superstructure of a society. The infrastructure he delineates to be the “economic base”, the working class that supports the superstructure. The superstructure, which is broken down into politico-legal (the legislative system, as well as the State) and ideology (politics, religions, beliefs, values) holds at the top of the equation. As the lowest common denominator to production the worker is placed within infrastructure then the family apparatus, the church apparatus, the educational apparatus, etc. Each facet of a subject’s life leads to a new pre-conditioned apparatus. The infrastructure is a completely relevant existence due to the fact that the superstructure could not exist without the later.

Splitting the dimensions of “Marxist theory of the State” into two more realms of thought, Althusser adds a new degree to the progression of the repressive state. The State Power as well as the State Apparatus Althusser believes should be broken down even further into Repressive State Apparatus and Ideological State Apparatus. Both deal with reproductive cycles of regenerating their own conditioning, continuing their own such belief system but in different ways. The Repressive State Apparatus differs from the Ideological State Apparatus through the fact that the Repressive State Apparatus functions solely through “violence”, while the Ideological State Apparatus functions predominantly through “ideology”. The Ideological State Apparatus consists of such “institutions” as media, church, school, political systems, and family. While the Repressive State Apparatus, is apparent within the public systems of violence such as the police or military.

So we the subject are first put through a brainwash of conditioning through existing within a State Power, we then work within the Infrastructure/Superstructure, depending on education and ideology which we were meant to believe in through the growth and upbringing of our lives. We then continue such ideology through the private and public sectors of our lives, thus continuing the reproductive qualities in producing a nation of people that think, breathe, eat and do the same thing.