Editing Neo-Marxism (section)

==== Practices ====
Althusser says Marx believed people are shaped by society, so it's not useful to base social theories on ideas about individuals. Instead of focusing on individuals, Marx looked at how society is structured. He saw society as made up of fixed "practices" rather than just individual actions. People are not the ones making history, but they support these practices.

Althusser defends Marx's ideas against the criticism that they oversimplify society by focusing too much on the economy. He argues that Marx didn't see society as just built on an economic base with culture and politics on top. Instead, Althusser says Marx saw these parts of society as connected and influencing each other. Economic practices, for example, involve many different things like resources, tools, and people working together.

Althusser sees society as made up of different "practices" like economics, ideology, and politics, which are all connected. Even though each practice has its own importance, they all depend on each other. For example, the economy can't function without laws and political systems to support it, and vice versa. So, for Althusser, understanding society means seeing how all these parts work together.