ABSTRACT
An important transitional phase occurs in Baudrillard’s early work with his reworking of Marxism. This chapter will discuss the structuralist notions of Marxism (1968-1972) and then the strong critique of Marx from 1972 onwards. The influence of Marx within Baudrillard’s work has often been overlooked in the English-speaking world.This is due in part to the fact that Baudrillard’s earliest writings were mainly translated into English long after the event and because of the interest in the later more performative “postmodern” pieces.Thus, Le Système des objets (1968) wasn’t translated until 1996, and the more Marxist books La Société de consommation (1970) until 1998 and Pour une critique de l’économie politique du signe (1972) until 1981. Only Le Miroir de la production (1973) was translated relatively quickly into English in 1975. The development of Marxist concepts and ideas was also downplayed by many critics because of the intense focus on postmodernism, communication theories, semiotics, and Baudrillard’s relation to structuralism and poststructuralism. More serious studies of Marxism and Baudrillard arose with Kellner (1989) and Gane (1991). In this chapter we will examine the early cluster of books that are basically engaging with questions generated by Marx. In this respect, we will see that there is a definite shift of perspective with the publication of The Mirror of Production, whereby the attempt to construct a structural Marxism turns into something far more critical and sceptical.
