Aesthetics & Alienation

This is an original theory of aesthetics based chiefly on Marx's theory of alienation and Louis Althusser's theory of ideology. From this the author puts forward the concept of 'aesthetic state apparatuses', which operate on the 'aesthetic level of practice'. He argues that so far in history the aesthetic level has been discounted in philosophy, so as to support the dominance of ideology, which in its turn supports ruling class aesthetics, and keeps it dominant but unaccountable.