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A review by savaging
Simulacra and Simulation by Jean Baudrillard
4.0
I like Baudrillard in spite of myself. He is an old curmudgeon, and when I finish reading him I feel hopeless. This is largely because he's very convincing.
The book is a brilliant critique of Marxism. Just as Baudrillard breaks down the distinctions we make between use value and exchange value, revealing the artificiality buried deep in seemingly-natural use-value and need, he likewise fractures the distinction between capitalist and communist markets. I feel relieved up to a point, because I'm also critical of the deep work-ethic and desire to dominate nature at the core of communism. And yet Baudrillard never stops at a point, and he isn't here to relieve anyone.
The aporia that Baudrillard can't move beyond -- the question of our time -- is why voluntary servitude exists. Most leftist theorists try to show that there's nothing "voluntary" about modern servitude. Baudrillard is either too much a contrarian or too dedicated to honesty to take this track: instead he pursues the possibility that voluntary servitude is deep in human desire.
His theories leave nothing to be done, and nothing to be fought for. It is a legitimate criticism to respond that such ideas could only surface in the mind of a man who hadn't ever gone hungry or braved a sweatshop factory collapse every day at work. And yet, even accounting for his privilege, there is something to his ideas that can't be brushed off . . .
The book is a brilliant critique of Marxism. Just as Baudrillard breaks down the distinctions we make between use value and exchange value, revealing the artificiality buried deep in seemingly-natural use-value and need, he likewise fractures the distinction between capitalist and communist markets. I feel relieved up to a point, because I'm also critical of the deep work-ethic and desire to dominate nature at the core of communism. And yet Baudrillard never stops at a point, and he isn't here to relieve anyone.
The aporia that Baudrillard can't move beyond -- the question of our time -- is why voluntary servitude exists. Most leftist theorists try to show that there's nothing "voluntary" about modern servitude. Baudrillard is either too much a contrarian or too dedicated to honesty to take this track: instead he pursues the possibility that voluntary servitude is deep in human desire.
His theories leave nothing to be done, and nothing to be fought for. It is a legitimate criticism to respond that such ideas could only surface in the mind of a man who hadn't ever gone hungry or braved a sweatshop factory collapse every day at work. And yet, even accounting for his privilege, there is something to his ideas that can't be brushed off . . .