Jean Baudrillard

From MarxWiki

Born in 1929, Baudrillard is a French postmodern and post-structuralist cultural theorist. He is best known for his theories of `hyperreality,` where America is actually `realer` than Real. Additionally, nothing is really `real` according to Baudrillard, since authenticity does not exist anymore--everything is a copy. The `real` has been replaced by simulacra, although those of us inhabiting it are incapable of seeing it ourselves. So...America is hyperreal, and yet nothing is actually real. Ok. Moving on...

Baudrillard was influenced by Marx and his theory of commodity fetishism, although Baudrillard sort of incorporates semiotics into this theory. According to Baudrillard, objects have functional values, exchange values, symbolic exchange values, and sign exchange values (which can confer social status).

Right now Baudrillard teaches at the European Graduate School. Which is pretty crazy, if you think about it. Are his classes real, or just a simulation? Something to think about...