Towards Post-Marx: From the Mirror of Production to the Mirror of Signs: From the Mirror of Production to the Mirror of Signs

Author: Yang Haifeng
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-03-01
Features: This book reveals the internal logic of the early development of Baudrillard's thought through textual analysis methods. Although the early thought of Baudrillard is generally within the theoretical framework of Western Marxism and takes Marx's production logic as the theoretical framework for his analysis, he argues that with the advent of consumer society, modern capitalist society has been controlled by codes, and external power control has transformed into self-investment at the level of consciousness. In consumer society, neither objects nor subjects hold the dominant position; rather, signs dominate everything. Therefore, Marx's critique of political economy must combine the findings of modern semiotic research to develop a semiotic critique of political economy. It is precisely in this process of integration that Baudrillard becomes aware of the differences between his philosophical approach and Marx's. He believes that Marx's philosophical critique starting from political economy still remains within the ideology of modern capitalism. He argues that in the face of modern capitalist society, it is necessary to shift from Marx's production logic to semiotic logic, replacing the semiotic critique of political economy with another semiotic system—the system of symbolic exchange. Through his critique of the mirror of production, Baudrillard begins to turn toward post-Marxist thought. Although Baudrillard raises some profound questions, his one-sided reading of Marx and modern capitalist society leads him to fall into the mirror of signs.