The Reproduction of Capitalism in Education: Althusser and the Educational Ideological State Apparatus

Education is not neutral nor impartial. Although the liberal take on education is ‘the great equalizer’, Marxist education scholars would reject this statement under the current societal conditions. As capitalist societies are based on competition, merit, and thus winners over losers, Marxist education scholars would instead argue, like I do, that the education reflects the surrounding capitalist society, and thus produces unequal outcomes. I explore the connections between education and capitalism, in this chapter, especially through the work of the Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser. In his work the concept of reproduction is central. By portraying the reproduction of capitalism, in which Althusser’s conception of capitalist education is paramount, this chapter describes education a process of capitalist subjection to dominant ideology, norms, and attitudes, or, in other words, education as a process of indoctrination to the capitalist society. Because the micro world of education increasingly mirrors the logics and needs of capital, education therefore commits students for careerism and meritocratic competition, but also rewards submission, in much the same fashion that Althusser pictured capitalist education in France in the late 1960s.