June 8, 2018:
Less prominent but important for understanding Althusser's project is his critique of Structuralism as a neo-Hegelian ideology. While Althusser frequently wrote of structures and their elements, he drew a sharp line of demarcation between his use of the term and the then-popular uses in the intellectual France of his day. Althusser dissected Structuralism as Hegelian in its conception of totality, where each element of the whole reflects or contains the whole in its essence. However, as Warren Montag emphasizes, "Althusser's analysis of his own theoretical conjuncture and the important if not dominant role of structuralism within it did not take the form of a coherent text or group of texts." Instead, his critique of Structuralism is scattered in passages and asides throughout his writings.