The System of Objects
Published on 24. March 2020
240 pages
978-1-78873-941-2 (ISBN)
Description
The System of Objects is a tour de force-a theoretical letter-in-a-bottle tossed into the ocean in 1968, which brilliantly communicates to us all the live ideas of the day-offering a cultural critique of the commodity in consumer society.
More details
Series
Edition
Ebook UK & RoW
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Product notice
Reflowable
ISBN-13
978-1-78873-941-2 (9781788739412)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Persons
Jean Baudrillard (1929-2007) began teaching sociology at the Universit¿ de Paris-X in 1966. He retired from academia in 1987 to write books and travel until his death in 2007.
Content
- Cover Page
- Halftitle Page
- Title Page
- Copyright Page
- Contents
- Translator's Acknowledgements
- Introduction
- A. The Functional System, or Objective Discourse
- I. Structures of Interior Design
- The Traditional Environment
- The Modern Object Liberated in its Function
- The Model Interior
- Modular Components
- Walls and Daylight
- Lighting
- Mirrors and Portraits
- Clocks and Time
- Towards a Sociology of Interior Design?
- Man the Interior Designer
- II. Structures of Atmosphere
- Atmospheric Values: Colour
- Traditional Colour
- 'Natural' Colour
- 'Functional' Colour
- Hot and Cold
- Atmospheric Values: Materials
- Natural Wood/Cultural Wood
- The Logic of Atmosphere
- A Model Material: Glass
- The Man of Relationship and Atmosphere
- Seats
- Cultural Connotation and Censorship
- Atmospheric Values: Gestural Systems and Forms
- The Traditional Gestural System: Effort
- The Functional Gestural System: Control
- A New Operational Field
- Miniaturization
- Stylization, Manipulability, Envelopment
- The End of the Symbolic Dimension
- The Abstractness of Power
- The Functionalist Myth
- Functional Form: The Lighter
- Formal Connotation: Tail Fins
- Form as Camouflage
- III. Conclusion: Naturalness and Functionality
- Addendum: The Domestic World and the Car
- B. The Non-Functional System, or Subjective Discourse
- I. Marginal Objects: Antiques
- Atmospheric Value: Historicalness
- Symbolic Value: The Myth of the Origin
- 'Authenticity'
- The Neo-Cultural Syndrome: Restoration
- Synchronism, Diachronism, Anachronism
- Reverse Projection: The Technical Object and Primitive Man
- The Market in Antiques
- Cultural Neo-Imperialism
- II. A Marginal System: Collecting
- The Object Abstracted from Its Function
- The Object as Passion
- The Finest of Domestic Animals
- A Serial Game
- From Quantity to Quality: The Unique Object
- Objects and Habits: Wrist-Watches
- Objects and Time: A Controlled Cycle
- The Sequestered Object: Jealousy
- The Object Destructured: Perversion
- From Serial Motivation to Real Motivation
- A Discourse Addressed to Oneself
- C. The Metafunctional and Dysfunctional System: Gadgets and Robots
- Technical Connotation: Automatism
- 'Functional' Transcendence
- Functional Aberration: Gadgets
- Pseudo-Functionality: Gizmos
- Metafunctionality: Robots
- The Transformations of Technology
- Technics and the Unconscious System
- D. The Socio-Ideological System of Objects and Their Consumption
- I. Models and Series
- The Pre-Industrial Object and the Industrial Model
- The 'Personalized' Object
- Choice
- Marginal Difference
- The Ideal Nature of Models
- From the Model to the Series
- The Technical Deficit of the Serial Object
- The 'Style' Deficit of the Serial Object
- Class Differences
- The Present as Privilege
- A Misadventure of the Person
- The Ideology of Models
- II. Credit
- Rights and Duties of the Consumer-Citizen
- The Precedence of Consumption: A New Ethic
- The Obligation to Buy
- The Miracle of Buying
- The Ambiguity of the Domestic Object
- III. Advertising
- Discourse on Objects and Discourse-As-Object
- Advertising in the Indicative and in the Imperative
- The Logic of Father Christmas
- Society as Maternal Agency: Airborne's Armchair
- The Festival of Buying Power
- Gratification/Repression: A Two-Sided Agency
- The Presumption of Collectivity
- Pax Washing Powder
- Promotional Contests
- Garap
- A New Humanism?
- Serial Conditioning
- Freedom by Default
- A New Language?
- Structure and Demarcation: Brands
- A Universal Code: Status
- Conclusion: Towards a Definition of 'Consumption'
- Notes
