Baudrillard's fatal present

Éditeurs invités

• Joel Hietanen, University of Helsinki
• Søren Askegaard, University of Southern Denmark
• Onni Tulensalo, Aalto University School of Business

Synthèse

This special issue seeks to address the significant absence of Baudrillard's social theory from contemporary marketing and consumer research, despite his foundational contributions to understanding consumption as a system of signs rather than need satisfaction. The editors argue that his radical critique of consumer society remains largely neglected or misunderstood within the field, despite being recognized as canonical work and despite contemporary calls to reconsider his insights for understanding current consumer culture.

The issue invites scholarly engagement with Baudrillard's complex theoretical framework, including his concepts of fatal strategies, hyperreality, and the intensification of signification toward implosion. Contributors are encouraged to explore how his work illuminates contemporary consumption phenomena—from sustainability discourse to market inequality—and to investigate whether fatal strategies and accelerationist impulses offer alternative perspectives on capitalist realism and consumer critique.

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Thèmes proposés

• Baudrillard's critique of consumer society and consumption as a system of signs
• Postmodern thought and its applications in marketing and consumer research
• The concept of fatal strategies and their relevance to contemporary consumer culture
• Hyperreality, simulation, and the collapse of meaning in consumer markets
• Sustainability, environmental discourse, and sign proliferation in consumer culture
• Symbolic exchange and death as critiques of political economy
• The relationship between subject and object in late capitalism and consumer behavior
• Critiques of emancipatory consumer narratives and resistive practices
• The role of excess, spectacle, and implosion in understanding contemporary consumption
• Applications of Baudrillard's theory beyond marketing, including social sciences broadly