For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign

Rating:
Summary: Not that original
Review: I read this book in French, so I can't comment on the quality of the translation, but I can say something about this book. Well, it's not *that* great. It's a good way to ease into earlier Baudrillard, and it provides a good framework for thinking through critical theory, but it's not particularly original or groundbreaking.

The themes Baudrillard rehearses are so unoriginal I have to struggle against the urge to speak these themes in the vocabularies of Baudrillard's predecessors. Essentially, Baudrillard discusses the way that Western representations of nature institutionalize capitalism (and, more specifically, the "productivism" that he sees infecting both capitalism and communism). It's not hard to guess that Baudrillard focuses on the concept of "need," which Deleuze, Guattari, and Marcuse have already done in a more interesting fashion, and the reduction of nature to an object of exploitation, a theme that Heidegger did way better with than Baudrillard will ever do.

Like Deleuze, Guattari, and Heidegger, Baudrillard attributes the failure of communism to communism's basis in Western representations of nature (objects). The way the title is translated suggests that in here you'll find a vast analysis of the economy conceived as an exchange of signifiers. That's not the case. It's just a critical whine about how we understand ourselves as the exploiter of nature and the production of goods, blah blah blah.

What's cool about this book is the way it employs psychoanalysis in its critique of political economy, so it's worth the time if you've got it. It's not a bad book and it's really a good exercise in critical theory. Just don't expect to be surprised and delighted by what you read.