An Introduction to Baudrillard

In this introduction to Baudrillard, I look at his thought as it developed from a Marxist framework in Symbolic Exchange and death through to his hyperreal postmodern period exemplified in Simulacra and Simulation. I take an in-depth look at a number of his concepts.

First I look at sign-value, which he argued must supplement Marx’s framework of use-value and exchange-value. He then takes this central concept forward arguing that copies of the real – simulacra – became increasingly detached from reality, referencing themselves more than the real and so developing a hyperreality. Postmodernity directs social life through code and simulation.

Finally, I look at the concept of Symbolic Exchange; a basis for revolutionary thought that is meant to emphasize social life, ritual, gift-giving, energy expenditure, and neo-aristocratic values. In doing this, Baudrillard hopes to escape from the ‘law of value’, utilitarian logic, and dialectic history typical in much modern thought.

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Sources (in recommended reading order):

Douglas Kellner, Jean Baudrillard: From Marxism to Postmodernism and Beyond

Richard J. Lane, Jean Baudrillard (Routledge Critical Thinkers)

Jean Baudrillard, Symbolic Exchange and Death

Jean Baudrillard, Simulacra and Simulation

Credits:

Baudrillard Image:

[stephen]

In my mind, Baudrillard's theories are a call not just for an anti-consumerist stance, but a deeper suspicion for what constitutes a "neutral" commodity. Nicely done

[mikecurry]

It's always mindblowing and incredibly humbling to know that there were/ are people out there with this much foresight.

[OrdinaryThings]

Reminds me of the best kind of Adam Curtis documentary. Fabulous

[lback]

This has to be the best intro to Baudrillard I’ve ever seen. And it’s not like Baudrillard is an easy thinker to wrap one’s mind around. Props to you man!

[Cyberspine]

Ironically, this video represents a hyper real version of the original text.

[Namen]

This is so well edited, narrated, animated, written, produced. I really appreciated it.

[juansinmiedo]

Thank you for composing this. Without rushing. And embedding the spirit of the Baudrillard in the form of the video. Best,

[nicholaswilliams]

In the times of covid-19 this line of thought becomes especially prescient. Those who are lucky enough work from home, meeting with the images of their co-workers, most of our work is converting once "real" events into "live streamed" events.

We consume images of protestors on the streets, who's movement stems from the killing of many but was triggered from the killing of one.

We post youtube comments instead of stating our opinions in person.

Many wait for the singularity with bated breath. It has in-fact happened. As Mckenna said, a transcendental object at the end of time pulls us near. Things will only get weirder. Like any trip, don't fight it, lean into it...

[iraklikotiashvili]

Honestly, I had to stop the video several times cuz I got chills and a little bit scared!
This is a masterpiece in itself, it's a hyperrealistic version of the text, lol.

Thank you so much, I'll go and domate for this cuz you made my thesis for me man, so grateful!! ❤❤❤

[markyoungmaccom]

There is so much content on YouTube you have to sort the wheat from the chaff.

Sometimes you’re lucky you find that rarest of content, educational, enjoyable and well produced. Your channel is just that. Keep up the great work !

And a brilliant summary of a dense topic.

[edwardbackman]

Up until 14:12 I thought I’d finally found a video that introduces structuralism without talking about trees. I was wrong.

[DAWOODKasperSylvia]

you don't understand how important and valuable this channel is.
i deeply thank you for making such informative and incredible content

[AGSTRANGERTunisianAuthor]

VR/AR will take this to a whole new level. This video will be way more relevant a couple of years from now. Great job!

[raresmocanu]

By far the best explanation of what Baudrillard wants to say in his deliberately convoluted discourse. The man's ideas, while revolutionary, are hidden under so much cryptic language (at least in the English translation of Simulacra and Simulation) that one can easily end up thinking they're not worth the effort.
And yes, I still don't get it. Hope the third attempt at reading S&S will prove more fruitful.

[NotARobotBeard]

Wow the music choices and awesome video collage make the text even more profound. Love this.

[slyanna]

Damn your voice is so soothing, keep up the good work!

[TrippingFighter]

I adore this page, goodluck and keep the good content comin!

[JonahThePigeon]

I have watched very many Baudrillard explanation videos on this website and this is hands down the best one.

[ShumuStudios]

Amazing job! Thank you for taking the time to do this. Respect, sir!

[PavelRizzo]

I'd like to introduce some discussion, because the thought of Baudrillard on one hand seems reasonable, in the other is symptomic of the "postmodern condition".

He actually manages to consider the more "unmaterially social" part of human life, as opposed to Marx's intention to analyse the repercussions of the material reproduction of society. I'd say that the insights he offers may be vital for the analysis of contemporary society, since we are actually ever more focused on marketing rather than production, thus aiming to produce needs before fulfilling them; the amount of "useless labour" is ever-growing, and the "bullshit jobs" number is ever-increasing in this post-industrial epoch.

So on the one hand the analysis of hyperreality is useful for studying the way in which we ourselves get detached from reality, in order to really get what the "unlimited flow of desires means": they aren't real, they are artificial, simulations, the "new pleasure" is the simulacra of the "old pleasure" that has been eradicated from its reality, thus from the genuine fulfillment of the human being. This leads to an unlimited search, marketable by the post-modern capitalistic machine.

On the other, it is symptomatic of the "post-modern condition" of the destruction of the community, of the ever-pervasive commoditization, isolation of the individual and loss of the "Gemeinschaft", community, for the "Gesellschaft", society. The socialisation of the individual in an atomized form creates the need for a common language to disperse, and nihilism, opinionism and the "fake news culture" take the center of the stage, dethronizing the community-centered "grand narratives", be it for the industrial worker community in a factory, or a village, or anything else that has a common interest and values.
The destruction of the community brought forward by the massification, marketization and liberalisation of life has made the individual asocial although socialised, thus making the "sign-value" become hyperreal, because of the plurality of "realities" that it tries to subsume under itself: what makes the grounds of Baudrillard's analysis, but also of Bataille's that I've heard echoing in the end of this video.

The "expenditure culture" and hyperreality are surely new perspectives that open up new interpretations of the past, too, but I'd like to remember how Marx in the Grundrisse when he talks of the method of Political Economy (I'd say of knowledge in general), specifies how the abstract category of labour, although always present in human history, has only taken form and though in the latest centuries. The new forms of consciousness created by the post-modern world are making us reinterpret the past, interestingly opening up new perspectives, dangerously making us risk the distortion of that period.

To conclude, I'd also like to remark that the late Baudrillard's views became a bit too hyperreal in themseves, but this is just a matter of my opinion.