Heterogeneous Manifestation of Ideological State Apparatus and Thatcherism in Ragtime Doctorow's Novel: A Thematic Analysis

Document Type : Original Article

Author
Maryam Navidi
department of English language and literature, Lorestan university
10.22034/quipls.2025.2060232.1006
Abstract
While Ragtime is set in early 20th-century America, the ideological and power dynamics that it critiques can indeed be linked to Thatcherism, which dominated Britain in the 1980s, particularly in its neoliberal economic policies and emphasis on individualism, deregulation, and the reinforcement of classes. Therefore, the aim of study is to thematically examine the incorporation of Thatcherism alongside the Althusserian concepts of ideology and ideological state apparatuses (ISAs) in the analysis of Ragtime which provides the fascinating lens to examine the novel's themes. In a Thatcherism context, much like in Althusser's framework, there is a clear emphasis on how ideologies are reinforced and perpetuated through institutions such as the media, education, and the legal system—akin to the ISAs in Althusser's theory. Ragtime touches on these same themes, especially as it explores how different characters are shaped by the ideologies of the time, whether they are the industrial magnates like Henry Ford, whose wealth and power are built upon capitalist ideology, or the marginalized figures who struggle against the systemic forces of inequality.

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