Baudrillard

Self-described "intellectual terrorist" Jean Baudrillard is one of the most important and provocative writers of the contemporary era. Widely acclaimed as the prophet to postmodernity, he has famously announced the disappearance of the subject, political economy, meaning, truth, the social, and the real in contemporary social formations.

Notes on Contributors vii

Introduction: Jean Baudrillard in the Fin-de-Millennium 1
Douglas Kellner

1. The System of Objects and the Commodification of Everyday Life: The Early Baudrillard 25
Mark Gottdiener

2. The Commodification of Reality and the Reality of Commodification: Baudrillard, Debord, and Postmodern Theory 41
Steven Best

3. Critical Theory and Technoculture: Habermas and Baudrillard 68
Mark Poster

4. Semiotics, Cybernetics, and the Ecstasy of Marketing Communications 89
Kim Sawchuck

5. Fashion and Signification in Baudrillard 119
Efrat Tseelon

6. Fatal Forms: Toward a (Neo) Formal Sociological Theory of Media Culture 135
Jonathan S. Epstein and Margaarete J. Epstein

7. Symbolic Exchange in Hyperreality 150
Deborah Cook

8. Capitalism and the Code: A Critique of Baudrillard's Third Order Simulacrum 168
Sara Schoonmaker

9. Simulation: The Highest Stage of Capitalism? 189
James Der Derian

10. Aesthetic Production and Cultural Politics: Baudrillard and Contemporary Art 209
Timothy W. Luke

11. Baudrillard, Modernism, and Postmodernism 227
Nicholas Zurbrugg

12. Valorizing “the Feminine” while Rejecting Feminism? – Baudrillard’s Feminist Provocations 257

13. The Drama of Theory: Vengeful Objects and Wily Props 292
Gary Genosko

14. Baudrillard, Time and the End 313
William Bogard

"This work includes an introduction by Kellner and fourteen chapters whose authors creatively deal with many of the contributions, complexities and controversies surrounding one of the most troubling and delightful philosophers of our time. The introduction by Douglas Kellner is a brief, yet insightful preface to the volume. As Kellner effectively began in his earlier works, this new contribution to the growing literature on Baudrillard continues to pave a critical path." Scott Lukas, Perspectives on Postmodernity Douglas Kellner has published widely in aspects of postmodern theory and mass communications. His many books include Jean Baudrillard (1989). This Critical Reader provides the first truly balanced assessment of Baudrillard's contributions to contemporary thought. The writers commissioned for this volume interrogate Baudrillard's positions in terms of specific topics, fields and debates - from his early work on the "system of objects" to his most recent metaphysical speculations on the fatality of the subject.

Self-described "intellectual terrorist" Jean Baudrillard is one of the most important and provocative writers of the contemporary era. Widely acclaimed as the prophet of postmodernity, he has famously announced the disappearance of the subject, political economy, meaning, truth, the social, and the real in contemporary social formations. Replacing the most persistent modern orthodoxies with his own often novel formulations and arguments, Baudrillard's writings have generated enormous controversy, forcing readers to decide if his thought is progression or regression from established positions.