Jean Baudrillard (Critical Thinkers)

Jean Baudrillard is not only one of the most famous writers on the subject of postmodernism, but he somehow seems to embody postmodernism itself. He is a writer and speaker whose texts are performances, attracting huge readerships or audiences. At the same time, his work is highly contentious, attracting a great deal of vitriolic criticism. He has been accused, for example, of being a critical terrorist, a nihilist (someone who has no beliefs at all, or values nothing), and a critic whose ideas are shallow and inaccurate. And yet, even given all of these harsh comments, he also has a wide critical following, with many books and articles being produced about him or using his theories to this very day.

Baudrillard was born in Reims on the 27 July 1929. He had a fairly conventional upbringing and education. In 1956 he began teaching Sociology in secondary education, which he continued until 1966, the year he defended his thesis on Le Système des objets (The System of Objects) at the University of Paris X-Nanterre. Baudrillard’s initial work was mainly known in the French-speaking world,