is the way it is maintained not peculiar to the conditions it finds itself in? capitalism is, the whole world round, justified with religious and ideological means. but the shape of those is a bit different for each religion & it's interface with nationalism, racism etc. it's how we get conflicts & competition between liberal capitalist systems

[–] heartheartbreak@hexbear.net 3 points 2 years ago

Drawing on althusser here who wrote quite a bit about the specific features of the superstructure.

The base is specifically the relations of exploitation or production. The superstructure is the sociolegal structures whose primary purpose is the reproduction of the relations of production. If for whatever reason people just decided to stop going to the factories to work to harvest and build means of production then society would be unable to function on a basic level.

The superstructure is specifically the repressive state apparatus and ideological state apparatuses. The repressive state apparatus is the legal and enforcement of the legal structures of a society, while the ideological state apparatuses are the state structures which reproduce ideology so as to maintain the relations of production - in other words reproduction of the reproduction of the relations of production.

The ISAs are the union state apparatus, the education state apparatus, the media state apparatus, the news state apparatus, the religious state apparatus etc. prior to capitalism the church played multiples of these roles at once and has now been split into only 1 of these. The ISAs main function is the reproduction of ideology, but are not exactly ideology themselves as they are definite social formations.

In other words - and what I think you are agreeing on - is that the base shapes the superstructure and the superstructure maintains the base, while simultaneously the superstructure tries to shape ideology, which is ultimately independent of the superstructure but is influenced in a very specific dialectic. Ideology can shape the superstructure in turn, as we have seen with the power of leftist movements expressed over elements of the ISAs and sometimes over the RSA, and presents a distinct force over society given the unique characteristics ideology has taken around the globe.

Ideology DOES play a role in shaping reality, but there's a distinct relationship between ideology and the superstructure and the superstructure and the base. Don't know why I typed all that out on the toilet but hope it's somewhat educational