Jean Baudrillard

Abstract

Jean Baudrillard (1929–2007) studied with Henri Lefebvre and taught sociology at the Paris X University Nanterre from 1966 to 1987. From 1987 to 1997 he published critical articles in the Paris newspaper Libération (collected in Screened Out [2000; English trans. 2002]). From 1967 until the early 1970s Baudrillard was associated with the sociology of urbanism group, and the journal Utopie. Baudrillard published over thirty books on topics of philosophy and social theory, including The System of Objects (1968; English trans. 1996), The Consumer Society (1970; English trans. 1998), For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign (1972; English trans. 1981), Symbolic Exchange and Death (1976; English trans. 1993), Seduction (1979; English trans. 1990), Simulacra and Simulations (1981; English trans. 1994), Fatal Strategies (1983; English trans. 1990), Cool Memories (1990; English trans. 1996), The Transparency of Evil (1990; English trans. 1993), The Gulf War Did Not Take Place (1991; English trans. 1995), Impossible Exchange (1999; English trans. 2001) and The Spirit of Terrorism (2002). Baudrillard achieved global fame when Larry and Andy Wachowski accorded Simulacra and Simulations an on- screen role in The Matrix (1999).