Louis Althusser
Louis Pierre Althusser (October 16, 1918 – October 22, 1990) was a French Marxist philosopher.
Althusser was born in Algeria and studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. He later became Professor of Philosophy at that university.
Althusser believed that capitalism controlled institutions such as education and the mass media to spread its beliefs across society. In addition to criticizing this sort of ideological work, he complained that the police and the military repressed rebellious workers.
Althusser believed that free will was an illusion and that the capitalist elite controlled society like puppet masters.
In 1980, he was convicted for the murder of his wife and was sentenced to a mental institution where he spent the rest of his days.