Baudrillard (RLE Social Theory)

Baudrillard is widely recognised as a powerful new force in cultural and social criticism, and is often referred to as the High Priest of Postmodernism. This study presents a detached assessment of his social thought and his reputation, challenging the way his work has been received in postmodernism and proposing a new reading of his contribution to social theory. Using many sources currently available only in French, Mike Gane provides the keys to understanding Baudrillards project and reveals the extent and scope of Baudrillards challenge to modern social theory and cultural criticism. He looks at the sources of Baudrillards ideas, analysing how Baudrillard has turned these sources against themselves. He describes Baudrillards dramatic encounter with critical Marxist theory and psychoanalysis, showing how Baudrillards post-Marxist writings define, through the exploration of fatal theory, a new episode in cultural history: a period of cultural implosion. This balanced account of Baudrillards social theory emphasises the originality of his work and argues that his significance can only be understood by grasping the paradoxes of his project Baudrillards work is poetic, yet, at the same time, critical and fatal.