A Marxist Reading of Young Baudrillard

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The book presents a rigorous critique of Baudrillard's early works, focusing on his challenges to historical materialism and Marxian labor theory. It employs a Marxist framework to analyze Baudrillard's key texts, revealing the evolution of his thought from ideographic material to symbolic coding. The author explores Baudrillard's notion of symbolic exchange, influenced by Mauss and Bataille, and highlights the transformation of critical logic in his theories. Ultimately, it portrays Baudrillard's later ideas as a troubling commentary on modern academia, likening them to a virus of paranoia and absurdity.