Summary of Jean Baudrillard's Symbolic Exchange and Death (Published in association with Theory, Culture & Society)

Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Book Preview: #1 The first aspect of the exchange of terms in the langue is related to the structural dimension of language, and the second to its functional dimension. Each dimension is separate but linked, which is what makes the classical configuration of the linguistic sign under the rule of the commodity law of value so unique.#2 The law of value is revolutionized in such a way that the two aspects are completely separated. Referential value is eliminated, and the structural play of value becomes autonomous. The systems of reference for production, signification, the affect, substance, and history are all replaced with a structural dimension.#3 The end of the classical era of the sign, the end of the era of production, and the end of the exchange-value/use-value dialectic, which is the only thing that makes accumulation and social production possible.#4 The era of simulation is visible everywhere in society. It is legible in the commutability of formerly contradictory terms, such as the beautiful and the ugly in fashion, the left and the right in politics, and the true and the false in media messages.