Response to Ideology Takes a Day Off: Althusser and Mass Culture

Authors

Janet Staiger, University of Texas at Austin

Keywords

Althusser, Marxist philosophy, ideology, science, humanism, cultural studies, identity, construction of identity, mass culture, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Chip Rhodes

Abstract

Chip Rhodes defends Althusser's scientific belief that the subject is a bearer of structures and opposes the humanist claim that the subject functions independently of its contexts. However, recent work in cultural studies examines how identity is constructed and allows us to reconcile the scientific and the humanist view. Ideological interpellation may define our subject positions but we are still able to refuse them. For instance, Rhodes' account of "Ferris Bueller's Day Off" assumes that the subject is a fully interpellated, adolescent, Anglo, middle or upper class, heterosexual male. However, the film also offers various oppositional subject positions, including adolescent female or Hispanic, working class youth.

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

Recommended Citation

Staiger, Janet (1994) "Response to Ideology Takes a Day Off: Althusser and Mass Culture," Studies in 20th Century Literature: Vol. 18: Iss. 1, Article 6. https://doi.org/10.4148/2334-4415.1338