Althusser asserts the Marxian convention of identifying the ideal condition for production as the ‘reproduction of the conditions of production.’ (Althusser 127) He does not though limit the conditions for production within the socio-economic boundaries of pre-existing notions. Althusser suggests the possibility of ‘“an extended scale”. (Althusser 127) Production, thus serves as the basis necessity to the formation and sustenance of a social system. In the inaugural part of his seminal essay, “Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses”, Althusser focuses the epistemological discourses upon the former notion, that is of reproducing the pre-existing conditions of production. It would be interesting to note that this notion of adhering to the already available means and conditions of production and through reproducing them, one may also absorbing the pivotal strategy and customs of the dominant strata of mass production. This notion may be explicated through a comparison carried out between two modes of publishing strategies: self-publishing and traditional publishing.
Authors who self-publish, for example, Hugh Howey, author of the “Silo saga”, keep a strong dimension of similarity with traditional book production. This similarity can be traced in his attempt to use professional cover designers to design his book covers. In other words, by doing so Mr. Howey attempts to materialize the ‘reproduction of the conditions of book production’ (128) in the dominant corporate spectrum.
Indie books, especially, need great covers. Covers function as short-handed way to assure the reader that the story was written with as much care and creativity as went into the cover design. That even though the book is self-published, it's as professional an endeavor as any traditionally published book on the market. (Miller)
Althusser denotes in a self-absorbed manner that this area has been ‘uniquely ignored’. (128) “The tenacious obviousness (ideological obviousness of an empiricist type) of the point of view of production alone, or even of that of mere productive practice (itself abstract in relation to the process of production) are so integrated into our everyday ‘consciousness’ that it extremely hard, not to say almost impossible, to raise oneself to the point of view of reproduction”(128). Althusser, does not undermine reproduction. “It follows that in order to exist, every social formation must reproduce the conditions of its production at the same time as it produces, and in order to be able to produce” (Althusser 128).
Althusser delineates the two essential elements that are required to be addressed by the interactive strategies of reproduction. These two elements are, ‘productive forces and the existing relations of production.’ (128)
Althusser’s only concern is not the reproduction of the conditions of production. He inclusively marks the reproduction of the means of production as the second important strategy for existence of a social system on the paradigm of well being. He marks the process of production as also the agency of reproduction. On an elaborate scale this notion undermines the very idea of production without executing substantial willingness in order to allow the forces of reproduction to exist. Thus, in Althusserian paradigm, production and reproduction are intricately woven together. However, the “reproduction of the material conditions of production” (128) appears to foreground a sense of essentiality in relation to the notion of reproduction of the conditions of production.
Althusser elaborates the juncture of reproduction of the means of production as follows:
The average economist, who is no different in this than the average capitalist, knows that each year it is essential to foresee what is needed to replace what has been used up or worn out in production: raw material, fixed installations (buildings), instruments of production (machines), etc. I say the average economist = the average capitalist, for they both express the point of view of the firm, regarding it as sufficient simply to give a commentary on the terms of the firm’s financial accounting practice.
But thanks to the genius of Quesnay who first posed this ‘glaring’ problem, and to the genius of Marx who resolved it, we know that the reproduction of the material conditions of production cannot be thought at the level of the firm, because it does not exist at that level in its real conditions. What happens at the level of the firm is an effect, which only gives an idea of the necessity of reproduction, but absolutely fails to allow its conditions and mechanisms to be thought. (129)
The nature of the above given passage affirms the political nature of reproduction of the means of production. Althusser compares the economist with capitalist and thus raises the possibility of both production and reproduction being enveloped by capitalist endeavor.
Sustenance of a social system underscores the presence of reproduction on conjoining terms with all forms of production. This notions does not exclude smaller scales of production. Considering Althusser’s notion of politically aligned production process, perhaps, smaller, individual strata of production landscape is overlooked. This, however does not indicate an absence of capitalist elements and praxis within the purview of smaller scale production units, such as self-publishing endeavors.
Althusser’s analysis of the discourse of reproduction spans across those areas of production that hold a significant political implication such as labour-force.
How is the reproduction of labour power ensured?
It is ensured by giving labour power the material means with which to reproduce itself: by wages. (130)
Reproduction of labour power earns considerable political weight through the capillary nature it establishes its connection with the social, familial and cultural realms of activity undertaken by the proletariat. Althusser problematizes the seemingly innocent position of the wage-earner through analysing the different textures involved in the processes of earning and expenditure of wages. Althusser addresses wages as the crucial step in capitalist intervention in the several strata of social order. He also substantiates this process as the essential venture in reproducing labor force. This process, although takes a rather wider and longer course within the space of social and economic activity, resemblances can be observed with the reproduction processes formerly analysed.
In other words, wages are directly proportional to the strengthening of a social order based on the discourse of reproduction.
[T]hat is in fact how it ‘works’, since wages represents only that part of the value produced by the expenditure of labour power which is indispensable for its reproduction: so indispensable to the reconstitution of the labour power of the wage-earner (the wherewithal to pay for housing, food and clothing, in short to enable the wage earner to present himself again at the factory gate the next day – and every further day God grants him); and we should add: indispensable for raising and educating the children in whom the proletarian reproduces himself (in n models where n = 0, 1, 2, etc....) as labour power. (130-31)
The concept of a labour power procreating its own type may incur the question of skills. The location of capitalist market practices demand a set of well defined skills for individual labourers. These skills are, on the other hand, not inborn, most often. Or, to put it more tendentially, Althusser’s notion of skill required for labour force changes in accordance with the nature and manner of the production process. Even the nature of the capital involved imposes a certain weight over the skills required by the persons. Althusser grounds his arguments in relation to this question within the space of educational system. In Althusser’s words, this “is achieved more and more outside production: by the capitalist education system, and by other instances and institutions” (132).
Works Cited
Althusser, Louis. Lenin and Philosophy and Other Essays. Trans. Ben Brewster. New York: Monthly Review Press. PDF File. 18 Aug 2015.
Miller, Christiana. “Self-Publishing on a Shoestring: Cover Me, Baby!”. huffingtonpost.com. 26 November 2013. Web. <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christiana-miller/selfpublishing-on-a-shoes_2_b_4325962.html?ir=India&adsSiteOverride=in>.
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