Tickets are pay-what-you-can with a suggested minimum donation of £3.00 in order to help cover venue costs. There are some limited free tickets as well for people who will struggle to contribute this.

Description

Althusser was an influential French Marxist thinker whose theories about education are familiar to every undergraduate and A-level sociology student.

Capitalism secures its own reproduction by means of both violence and ideology. The Repressive State Apparatus (police, courts, military) keeps workers in check with physical threats, while the Ideological State Apparatus (schools, religion, media, family, sport) helps to disseminate ruling class ideas as common sense.

Are we just reproducing capitalism in our classrooms? How far can we realistically go in challenging the dominant capitalist ideology? Is Althusser right that education is more dominant even than the media? Shouldn’t PE teachers really be seen as part of the Repressive State Apparatus?

Recommended reading: “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses” by Althusser: PDF version – Text version

What to expect

After a short introductory talk, we will discuss the topic in small groups, with some time to feed back to the whole room. Most of our events have somewhere between 10-30 attendees. We aim for every event to be accessible to everyone, regardless of any prior knowledge!

About Bristol Transformed

Bristol Transformed is a grassroots, volunteer-run, socialist education group. Bringing together activists, trade unionists, and everyone who wants to learn, we’re creating the space to discuss the most important issues facing us, equipping us with the skills and knowledge to transform Bristol and the world.

We run an annual festival of politics, arts and culture in May, and weekly events throughout the rest of the year. See all our events here.

Bristol Transformed is run by dozens of local people. Without new people coming in every year, we wouldn’t be able to maintain the same standard of political education events that you enjoy. If you’d be interested in joining us, sign up as a BT volunteer today and we’ll be in touch!