A term coined by
Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser in his essay "
Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation)."
The
Repressive State Apparatuses (or
RSAs, as Althusser refers to them in his essay) are those systems and structures in a
society that control the relations of
production through mainly repressive, physical means. Althusser claims that these structures are necessary (in conjuction with
Ideological State Apparatuses, or
ISAs) to maintain the
reproduction of the relations of production, or in other words, to keep the
labourers labouring for the
State and the
bourgeois society.
The RSAs include the following:
In
history, these Repressive State Apparatuses were used almost exclusively to keep a population "
in line", often resorting to true
violence and physical
repression. Monarchies and
feudal governments often used
brute force instead of
ideological force to contain the working folk (with exception of the ideological force of the
Church, mind you).
Today, we see that the Ideological State Apparatuses are much more
effective in the reproduction of the relations of production, and that the Repressive State Apparatuses are reserved for those moments when the
ideology has failed to reach full
saturation (such as during
protests, governmental changes or inter-State conflicts).
Sources:
Althusser, Louis. "Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses (Notes towards an Investigation)." In Mapping Ideology. London: Verso, 1994.
http://home.triad.rr.com/siar/WorldLit/base.html