Marx and Althusser seem to differ in their views on ideology. From Marx's bitter, sarcastic tone, I get the feeling he is sick to death of the entire subject, thinks it's utterly useless, and wants it to go away. Althusser seems more excepting of ideology, going as far as to say the government (on the state level at least) would be completely dysfunctional without it. He lists a variety of "Ideological State Apparatuses" that make up important things like the legal system and media.
I definitely agree with Althusser on the school point. He brings up that children are basically forced to spend most of their time there, giving school a huge advantage. It's also free, which helps it become more widespread. It teaches children so much that they would be basically useless to society without it. The whole point of these ISAs is to have society thrive, right? That would be near impossible without a school system.
I think that Althusser is more than accepting of ideology. I got the sense that Althusser believes that ideology is essential to our lives and society overall. Althusser recognizes that ideology influences how we see the world, and in that sense how we act in the world.
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