The symbolic exchange and death
The symbolic exchange and death. (Original title: L'échange symbolique et la mort.) Is the main work by Jean Baudrillard published in 1976 .
Contents sketch
Baudrillard distinguishes three ages of the sign or "three orders of the simulacrum ": After the age of " imitation " and that of "production", we now live in the age of "simulation" - a social condition in which sign and reality are increasingly indistinguishable . According to Baudrillard, the signs have broken away from what they signify and have become "without reference". The character codes of modern cities, advertising and the media would only pretend to be decipherable messages. In truth, however, they are purely an end in themselves with which the entire system of society is maintained so that “everyone stays in his place”. The signs “simulate” an artificial reality as hyperreality instead of depicting a real world.
literature
- L'échange symbolique et la mort. Gallimard, Paris 1976, ISBN 2-07-029347-5 . (German: The symbolic exchange and death. Matthes & Seitz, Munich 1982, ISBN 3-88221-215-2 .)