The Ideological State Apparatus (ISA), according to Althusser, is the method which changes minds. Institutions such as education, the churches, family, media, trade unions, and law are formally found outside the state control but serves to transmit the values of the state. Economic classes and their relations to each other in the modes of production of each progression historical period are important elements of society. The history of human society has five modes of production: Primitive, Slavery, Feudalism, Capitalism, and Socialism. In the primitive mode of production, there is cooperative relation among all human beings. Land is seen as a useless factor of production. Challenges during this era mostly came from nature. There is a lack of control over production. In slavery era, the mode of production is based on slave owners exploiting slave labour. The Master-Slave relationship is thus created. Under the feudal system, the landlord-serf relationship is created. The landlord owns the land and most of the produce, but the serf who is tied to the land comes with the land owned by the lords. The capitalist system depicts Bourgeoisie-Proletariat relationship. The Bourgeoisie is the class that owns factories and other forms of capital while the Proletariat is the class that toils in their employment under the Bourgeoisie. This allows private ownership of mode of production. A capitalist system results to a decreased welfare for the working class. The Philippines has a mixed mode of production that showcases not a merit-based recognition but by virtue of social networks. The country is said to be in the intermediate stage of Feudalism and Capitalism.
What makes the Ideological State Apparatus a real danger to any society is its ability to discretely hide itself from plain sight and consequently settle in the private realm of life. The very same feature can be observed in the following scenarios. In the three century Spanish occupation in the country, why were the Filipinos three centuries late in staging their revolution to claim their liberty and freedom? The ISAs present in society in that particular time and space of Philippine history are perhaps pervasive and very much influential in its hold on the Filipino people so much so that it forces its subjects to accept without any questions or second thoughts.
There was one point that I have to both agree and disagree with. It was about the Philippine labourers being too rights-conscious and as a consequence, becomes an apparent detriment to productivity and efficiency of the said labourers. I agree that, indeed, the Philippine labour market is unproductive. The Big Mac Index is used to roughly estimate the productivity of workers across all countries using a standardized measure that is constant in all the countries, the quality and price of a McDonald’s Big Mac. Using this standard, the Philippines ranks as one of the most unproductive countries since it would take an average worker 88 minutes of work to earn a Big Mac while it would only take a Japanese worker 10 minutes. On the other hand, I have to disagree with the Filipino workers as being too rights-conscious. If one uses the daily Cost of Living Allowance (COLA) of each individual, of which will enable him to survive a day’s worth of basic needs, as a basis for wage levels, then one would soon find out that the minimum wage is almost always less than the daily COLA of an individual. I think, to live at the borders of poverty is more than enough justification of the workers to demand better wage levels and compensation. There is absolutely nothing wrong for an individual to earn his just compensation after a hard day’s work. (12/07/2010)
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