Summary

In his analysis of the deep social trends rooted in production, consumption and the symbolic, Jean Baudrillard touched the heart of the concerns of the generation currently rebelling against the framework of the consumer society. With the ever greater mediazation of society, Baudrillard argues that we are witnessing the virtualization of our world, a disappearance of reality itself and perhaps the impossibility of any exchange at all. The disenchanted perspective has become the rallying point for all those who reject the traditional sociological and philosophical paradigms of our age. This text offers readers 12 accessible entry points into Baudrillard's thought by way of the concepts he uses throughout his oeuvre: the object, seduction, value, impossible exchange, the obscene, the virtual, symbolic exchange, the transparency of evil, the perfect crime, destiny, duality and thought."