Palmares
3rd May 2009, 23:18
The Mirror of Production is a 1973 book by Jean Baudrillard (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean_Baudrillard). It is a systematic critique of Marxism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marxism). Baudrillard's thesis is that Marxs theory of historical materialism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historical_materialism) is too rooted in assumptions of political economy to provide a framework for radical action. The fault of Marxism is not its revolutionary goals but the failure of historical materialism to attain its ends.
Baudrillard states that Marxs critique of political economy was based on forms of production and labour. Marx did not transcend political economy but merely saw its reverse or its mirror side. Marxism merely strengthens political economys basic propositions. In Baudrillards words, it convinces men that they are alienated by the sale of their labour power; hence it censors the much more radical hypothesis that they do not have to be the labour power. The mirror of production is the only means through which social activity is intelligible. Baudrillard proposes to liberate workers from their "labour value" and think in terms other than production. The book is a semiotic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotic) critique of the political economy of the sign.
Anyone read this? What do you think?
Obvious orthodox Marxists wouldn't be into this...
Baudrillard states that Marxs critique of political economy was based on forms of production and labour. Marx did not transcend political economy but merely saw its reverse or its mirror side. Marxism merely strengthens political economys basic propositions. In Baudrillards words, it convinces men that they are alienated by the sale of their labour power; hence it censors the much more radical hypothesis that they do not have to be the labour power. The mirror of production is the only means through which social activity is intelligible. Baudrillard proposes to liberate workers from their "labour value" and think in terms other than production. The book is a semiotic (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semiotic) critique of the political economy of the sign.
Anyone read this? What do you think?
Obvious orthodox Marxists wouldn't be into this...