According to Althusser, the family is an ideological state apparatus. What is its role?

• A. The family primarily serves as an economic producer.
• B. The family is a playground for individual autonomy.
• C. The family is an ideological state apparatus that maintains social control and passes on ideology.
• D. The family is irrelevant to the state.

Answer: (C)

In Althusser’s theory, the family is an ideological state apparatus that helps keep social control by teaching and reproducing the ideology and norms of the ruling class. Through everyday practices, parents socialize children into accepting the social order, including beliefs about hierarchy, obedience to authority, gender roles, and private property. This indoctrination occurs through family routines, values, and stories that frame the current social arrangement as natural or justified, guiding individuals to conform as workers and citizens in a capitalist society. So the family’s main role is not economic production or personal autonomy, but shaping minds to sustain the existing social and economic system.