For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign

For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign

Author: Jean Baudrillard

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2019-07-23

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 1788734831

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A material analysis of the sign which deepens Marx's critique of political economy for spectacular times. What if the problems of modern society don't come from production, but rather consumption and the system of cultural signs? In this classic work from the defining intellectual of the postmodern, Jean Baudrillard, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign takes Marx's critique of political economy and its analysis of the commodity form as the starting point for an analysis of signs and their meaning in modern society. Influenced by Lefebvre's critique of everyday life, Barthes's semiology, and Situationism, Baudrillard analyses how objects are encoded within the system of signs and meanings that constitute contemporary media and consumer societies. Combining semiological studies and sociology of the consumer society, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign contains Baudrillard's most extensive engagement with Marxism and shows him at a critical juncture for the development of his thought.


Book Synopsis For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign by : Jean Baudrillard

Download or read book For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign written by Jean Baudrillard and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2019-07-23 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A material analysis of the sign which deepens Marx's critique of political economy for spectacular times. What if the problems of modern society don't come from production, but rather consumption and the system of cultural signs? In this classic work from the defining intellectual of the postmodern, Jean Baudrillard, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign takes Marx's critique of political economy and its analysis of the commodity form as the starting point for an analysis of signs and their meaning in modern society. Influenced by Lefebvre's critique of everyday life, Barthes's semiology, and Situationism, Baudrillard analyses how objects are encoded within the system of signs and meanings that constitute contemporary media and consumer societies. Combining semiological studies and sociology of the consumer society, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign contains Baudrillard's most extensive engagement with Marxism and shows him at a critical juncture for the development of his thought.


For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign

For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign

Author: Jean Baudrillard

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2019-07-23

Total Pages: 273

ISBN-13: 178873484X

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

A material analysis of the sign which deepens Marx's critique of political economy for spectacular times. What if the problems of modern society don't come from production, but rather consumption and the system of cultural signs? In this classic work from the defining intellectual of the postmodern, Jean Baudrillard, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign takes Marx's critique of political economy and its analysis of the commodity form as the starting point for an analysis of signs and their meaning in modern society. Influenced by Lefebvre's critique of everyday life, Barthes's semiology, and Situationism, Baudrillard analyses how objects are encoded within the system of signs and meanings that constitute contemporary media and consumer societies. Combining semiological studies and sociology of the consumer society, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign contains Baudrillard's most extensive engagement with Marxism and shows him at a critical juncture for the development of his thought.


Book Synopsis For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign by : Jean Baudrillard

Download or read book For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign written by Jean Baudrillard and published by Verso Books. This book was released on 2019-07-23 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A material analysis of the sign which deepens Marx's critique of political economy for spectacular times. What if the problems of modern society don't come from production, but rather consumption and the system of cultural signs? In this classic work from the defining intellectual of the postmodern, Jean Baudrillard, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign takes Marx's critique of political economy and its analysis of the commodity form as the starting point for an analysis of signs and their meaning in modern society. Influenced by Lefebvre's critique of everyday life, Barthes's semiology, and Situationism, Baudrillard analyses how objects are encoded within the system of signs and meanings that constitute contemporary media and consumer societies. Combining semiological studies and sociology of the consumer society, For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign contains Baudrillard's most extensive engagement with Marxism and shows him at a critical juncture for the development of his thought.


A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy

Author: Karl Marx

Publisher: Franklin Classics Trade Press

Published: 2018-10-19

Total Pages: 320

ISBN-13: 9780343823702

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.


Book Synopsis A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy by : Karl Marx

Download or read book A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy written by Karl Marx and published by Franklin Classics Trade Press. This book was released on 2018-10-19 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.


Critical Theory and the Critique of Political Economy

Critical Theory and the Critique of Political Economy

Author: Werner Bonefeld

Publisher: A&C Black

Published: 2014-05-08

Total Pages: 257

ISBN-13: 1441161392

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Subversive thought is none other than the cunning of reason when confronted with a social reality in which the poor and miserable are required to sustain the illusion of fictitious wealth. Yet, this subsidy is absolutely necessary in existing society, to prevent its implosion. The critique of political economy is a thoroughly subversive business. It rejects the appearance of economic reality as a natural thing, argues that economy has not independent existence, expounds economy as political economy, and rejects as conformist rebellion those anti-capitalist perspectives that derive their rationality from the existing conceptuality of society. Subversion focuses on human conditions. Its critical subject is society unaware of itself. This book develops Marx's critique of political economy as negative theory of society. It does not conform to the patterns of the world and demands that society rids itself of all the muck of ages and founds itself anew.


Book Synopsis Critical Theory and the Critique of Political Economy by : Werner Bonefeld

Download or read book Critical Theory and the Critique of Political Economy written by Werner Bonefeld and published by A&C Black. This book was released on 2014-05-08 with total page 257 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Subversive thought is none other than the cunning of reason when confronted with a social reality in which the poor and miserable are required to sustain the illusion of fictitious wealth. Yet, this subsidy is absolutely necessary in existing society, to prevent its implosion. The critique of political economy is a thoroughly subversive business. It rejects the appearance of economic reality as a natural thing, argues that economy has not independent existence, expounds economy as political economy, and rejects as conformist rebellion those anti-capitalist perspectives that derive their rationality from the existing conceptuality of society. Subversion focuses on human conditions. Its critical subject is society unaware of itself. This book develops Marx's critique of political economy as negative theory of society. It does not conform to the patterns of the world and demands that society rids itself of all the muck of ages and founds itself anew.


The Mirror of Production

The Mirror of Production

Author: Jean Baudrillard

Publisher: Verso

Published: 2021-03-30

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781788734899

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The most provocative work from the father of postmodernism. A spectre haunts the revolutionary imagination: the spectre of production. Revolutionary thought - from Marx to Deleuze - merely replicates the obsession with production of classical political economy. Jean Baudrillard's provocative early study The Mirror of Production, marks the point at which his thought breaks from the tenants of Marxism. Instead, Baudrillard seeks to go further than Marx, radicalising his thought by breaking with the capitalist logic of production in its entirety. Combining semiotics with a skilled reworking of critical theory, he carries out a thorough critique of Marxism, arguing that by placing production at the centre of its analysis it serves to naturalise capitalism instead of abolishing it. Instead, what we need is a thorough attack on productivism in all its forms and a total break from the logic of capital.


Book Synopsis The Mirror of Production by : Jean Baudrillard

Download or read book The Mirror of Production written by Jean Baudrillard and published by Verso. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The most provocative work from the father of postmodernism. A spectre haunts the revolutionary imagination: the spectre of production. Revolutionary thought - from Marx to Deleuze - merely replicates the obsession with production of classical political economy. Jean Baudrillard's provocative early study The Mirror of Production, marks the point at which his thought breaks from the tenants of Marxism. Instead, Baudrillard seeks to go further than Marx, radicalising his thought by breaking with the capitalist logic of production in its entirety. Combining semiotics with a skilled reworking of critical theory, he carries out a thorough critique of Marxism, arguing that by placing production at the centre of its analysis it serves to naturalise capitalism instead of abolishing it. Instead, what we need is a thorough attack on productivism in all its forms and a total break from the logic of capital.


Rosa Luxemburg and the Critique of Political Economy

Rosa Luxemburg and the Critique of Political Economy

Author: Riccardo Bellofiore

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2009-05-27

Total Pages: 216

ISBN-13: 1134135076

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Bringing together contributors from outside the Marxian tradition as well as from within, including Paul Zarembka, Jan Toporowski and Paul Mattick Jr., this book analyzes the important contributions made by Rosa Luxemburg to economic theory.


Book Synopsis Rosa Luxemburg and the Critique of Political Economy by : Riccardo Bellofiore

Download or read book Rosa Luxemburg and the Critique of Political Economy written by Riccardo Bellofiore and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2009-05-27 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Bringing together contributors from outside the Marxian tradition as well as from within, including Paul Zarembka, Jan Toporowski and Paul Mattick Jr., this book analyzes the important contributions made by Rosa Luxemburg to economic theory.


The Critique of Digital Capitalism

The Critique of Digital Capitalism

Author: Michael Betancourt

Publisher: punctum books

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 265

ISBN-13: 0692598448

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

Anything that can be automated, will be. The "magic" that digital technology has brought us - self-driving cars, Bitcoin, high frequency trading, the internet of things, social networking, mass surveillance, the 2009 housing bubble - has not been considered from an ideological perspective. The Critique of Digital Capitalism identifies how digital technology has captured contemporary society in a reification of capitalist priorities, and also describes digital capitalism as an ideologically "invisible" framework that is realized in technology. Written as a series of articles between 2003 and 2015, the book provides a broad critical scope for understanding the inherent demands of capitalist protocols for expansion without constraint (regardless of social, legal or ethical limits) that are increasingly being realized as autonomous systems that are no longer dependent on human labor or oversight and implemented without social discussion of their impacts. The digital illusion of infinite resources, infinite production, and no costs appears as an "end to scarcity," whereby digital production supposedly eliminates costs and makes everything equally available to everyone. This fantasy of production without consumption hides the physical costs and real-world impacts of these technologies. The critique introduced in this book develops from basic questions about how digital technologies directly change the structure of society: why is "Digital Rights Management" not only the dominant "solution" for distributing digital information, but also the only option being considered? During the burst of the "Housing Bubble" burst 2009, why were the immaterial commodities being traded of primary concern, but the actual physical assets and the impacts on the people living in them generally ignored? How do surveillance (pervasive monitoring) and agnotology (culturally induced ignorance or doubt, particularly the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data) coincide as mutually reinforcing technologies of control and restraint? If technology makes the assumptions of its society manifest as instrumentality - then what ideology is being realized in the form of the digital computer? This final question animates the critical framework this analysis proposes. Digital capitalism is a dramatically new configuration of the historical dynamics of production, labor and consumption that results in a new variant of historical capitalism. This contemporary, globalized network of production and distribution depends on digital capitalism's refusal of established social restraints: existing laws are an impediment to the transcendent aspects of digital technology. Its utopian claims mask its authoritarian result: the superficial "objectivity" of computer systems are supposed to replace established protections with machinic function - the uniform imposition of whatever ideology informs the design. However, machines are never impartial: they reify the ideologies they are built to enact. The critical analysis of capitalist ideologies as they become digital is essential to challenging this process. Contesting their domination depends on theoretical analysis. This critique challenges received ideas about the relationship between labor, commodity production and value, in the process demonstrating how the historical Marxist analysis depends on assumptions that are no longer valid. This book therefore provides a unique, critical toolset for the analysis of digital capitalist hegemonics.


Book Synopsis The Critique of Digital Capitalism by : Michael Betancourt

Download or read book The Critique of Digital Capitalism written by Michael Betancourt and published by punctum books. This book was released on 2015 with total page 265 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Anything that can be automated, will be. The "magic" that digital technology has brought us - self-driving cars, Bitcoin, high frequency trading, the internet of things, social networking, mass surveillance, the 2009 housing bubble - has not been considered from an ideological perspective. The Critique of Digital Capitalism identifies how digital technology has captured contemporary society in a reification of capitalist priorities, and also describes digital capitalism as an ideologically "invisible" framework that is realized in technology. Written as a series of articles between 2003 and 2015, the book provides a broad critical scope for understanding the inherent demands of capitalist protocols for expansion without constraint (regardless of social, legal or ethical limits) that are increasingly being realized as autonomous systems that are no longer dependent on human labor or oversight and implemented without social discussion of their impacts. The digital illusion of infinite resources, infinite production, and no costs appears as an "end to scarcity," whereby digital production supposedly eliminates costs and makes everything equally available to everyone. This fantasy of production without consumption hides the physical costs and real-world impacts of these technologies. The critique introduced in this book develops from basic questions about how digital technologies directly change the structure of society: why is "Digital Rights Management" not only the dominant "solution" for distributing digital information, but also the only option being considered? During the burst of the "Housing Bubble" burst 2009, why were the immaterial commodities being traded of primary concern, but the actual physical assets and the impacts on the people living in them generally ignored? How do surveillance (pervasive monitoring) and agnotology (culturally induced ignorance or doubt, particularly the publication of inaccurate or misleading scientific data) coincide as mutually reinforcing technologies of control and restraint? If technology makes the assumptions of its society manifest as instrumentality - then what ideology is being realized in the form of the digital computer? This final question animates the critical framework this analysis proposes. Digital capitalism is a dramatically new configuration of the historical dynamics of production, labor and consumption that results in a new variant of historical capitalism. This contemporary, globalized network of production and distribution depends on digital capitalism's refusal of established social restraints: existing laws are an impediment to the transcendent aspects of digital technology. Its utopian claims mask its authoritarian result: the superficial "objectivity" of computer systems are supposed to replace established protections with machinic function - the uniform imposition of whatever ideology informs the design. However, machines are never impartial: they reify the ideologies they are built to enact. The critical analysis of capitalist ideologies as they become digital is essential to challenging this process. Contesting their domination depends on theoretical analysis. This critique challenges received ideas about the relationship between labor, commodity production and value, in the process demonstrating how the historical Marxist analysis depends on assumptions that are no longer valid. This book therefore provides a unique, critical toolset for the analysis of digital capitalist hegemonics.


For a New Critique of Political Economy

For a New Critique of Political Economy

Author: Bernard Stiegler

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2010-11

Total Pages: 161

ISBN-13: 0745648037

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The catastrophic economic, social and political crisis of our time calls for a new and original critique of political economy - a rethinking of Marx's project in the very different conditions of twenty-first century capitalism. Stiegler argues that today the proletarian must be reconceptualized as the economic agent whose knowledge and memory are confiscated by machines. This new sense of the term ‘proletarian' is best understood by reference to Plato's critique of exteriorized memory. By bringing together Plato and Marx, Stiegler can show how a generalized proletarianization now encompasses not only the muscular system, as Marx saw it, but also the nervous system of the so-called creative workers in the information industries. The proletarians of the former are deprived of their practical know-how, whereas the latter are shorn of their theoretical practice, and both suffer from a confiscation of the very possibility of a genuine art of living. But the mechanisms at work in this new and accentuated form of proletarianization are the very mechanisms that may spur a reversal of the process. Such a reversal would imply a crucial distinction between one's life work, originating in otium (leisure devoted to the techniques of the self), and the job, consisting in a negotium (the negotiation and calculation, increasingly restricted to short-term expectations), leading to the necessity of a new conception of economic value. This short text offers an excellent introduction to Stiegler's work while at the same time representing a political call to arms in the face of a deepening economic and social crisis.


Book Synopsis For a New Critique of Political Economy by : Bernard Stiegler

Download or read book For a New Critique of Political Economy written by Bernard Stiegler and published by Polity. This book was released on 2010-11 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The catastrophic economic, social and political crisis of our time calls for a new and original critique of political economy - a rethinking of Marx's project in the very different conditions of twenty-first century capitalism. Stiegler argues that today the proletarian must be reconceptualized as the economic agent whose knowledge and memory are confiscated by machines. This new sense of the term ‘proletarian' is best understood by reference to Plato's critique of exteriorized memory. By bringing together Plato and Marx, Stiegler can show how a generalized proletarianization now encompasses not only the muscular system, as Marx saw it, but also the nervous system of the so-called creative workers in the information industries. The proletarians of the former are deprived of their practical know-how, whereas the latter are shorn of their theoretical practice, and both suffer from a confiscation of the very possibility of a genuine art of living. But the mechanisms at work in this new and accentuated form of proletarianization are the very mechanisms that may spur a reversal of the process. Such a reversal would imply a crucial distinction between one's life work, originating in otium (leisure devoted to the techniques of the self), and the job, consisting in a negotium (the negotiation and calculation, increasingly restricted to short-term expectations), leading to the necessity of a new conception of economic value. This short text offers an excellent introduction to Stiegler's work while at the same time representing a political call to arms in the face of a deepening economic and social crisis.


Das Kapital

Das Kapital

Author: Karl Marx

Publisher: Simon and Schuster

Published: 2012-03-27

Total Pages: 356

ISBN-13: 1596987995

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

One of the most notorious works of modern times, as well as one of the most influential, Capital is an incisive critique of private property and the social relations it generates. Living in exile in England, where this work was largely written, Marx drew on a wide-ranging knowledge of its society to support his analysis and generate fresh insights. Arguing that capitalism would create an ever-increasing division in wealth and welfare, he predicted its abolition and replacement by a system with common ownership of the means of production. Capital rapidly acquired readership among the leaders of social democratic parties, particularly in Russia and Germany, and ultimately throughout the world, to become a work described by Marx's friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels as 'the Bible of the Working Class'.


Book Synopsis Das Kapital by : Karl Marx

Download or read book Das Kapital written by Karl Marx and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-03-27 with total page 356 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: One of the most notorious works of modern times, as well as one of the most influential, Capital is an incisive critique of private property and the social relations it generates. Living in exile in England, where this work was largely written, Marx drew on a wide-ranging knowledge of its society to support his analysis and generate fresh insights. Arguing that capitalism would create an ever-increasing division in wealth and welfare, he predicted its abolition and replacement by a system with common ownership of the means of production. Capital rapidly acquired readership among the leaders of social democratic parties, particularly in Russia and Germany, and ultimately throughout the world, to become a work described by Marx's friend and collaborator Friedrich Engels as 'the Bible of the Working Class'.


Marx Today

Marx Today

Author: J. Sitton

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2010-12-12

Total Pages: 261

ISBN-13: 0230117457

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This book provides, in one volume, primary sources by Marx and critical commentary which relates Marxism to contemporary social and political topics. It includes six brief works by Marx and ten articles by scholars, sympathetic to, but critical of, Marxism. For example, the author includes the classic essay by Heidi Hartmann which criticizes Marxism for misunderstanding gender oppression, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism." No previous anthology of Marx has combined both brief works by Marx and multiple critical essays elaborating on his themes or engaging the shortcomings of his arguments.


Book Synopsis Marx Today by : J. Sitton

Download or read book Marx Today written by J. Sitton and published by Springer. This book was released on 2010-12-12 with total page 261 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides, in one volume, primary sources by Marx and critical commentary which relates Marxism to contemporary social and political topics. It includes six brief works by Marx and ten articles by scholars, sympathetic to, but critical of, Marxism. For example, the author includes the classic essay by Heidi Hartmann which criticizes Marxism for misunderstanding gender oppression, "The Unhappy Marriage of Marxism and Feminism." No previous anthology of Marx has combined both brief works by Marx and multiple critical essays elaborating on his themes or engaging the shortcomings of his arguments.