Social Function Of Object And Class Logic

Baudrillard is a famous contemporary French philosopher,thinker,social theorist,the representative figure of postmodern social theory.Symbolic exchange is the core content of his view of sociology.Baudrillard think that the object of our daily life that we consume has a social function.Our consumption is not based on the use value and function of object,but on the social value of sign.Symbolic function of object highlight the social status of people and construct the social hierarchy.It is the logic of social consumption and the logic of class.the lower-class people tend to practice the object and sign symbolic of the social status of the upper social status.System of object build the symbol system,and symbol system control people's consumption.It is this social logic and cultural logic,this logic of the distinction of object,this logic of the distinction and exchange of symbol that in a more fundamental level control over our real consumption.This paper,based on Baudrillard's specific text,analyzes the Thought of symbolic exchange of Baudrillard.The full text is divided into seven parts.In the first part,the context briefly introduces the life of Baudrillard.At first,as a famous French philosopher,social theorist,representative of the postmodern social theory,Baudrillard devoted all his life to the career of education and research.Especially in his later years,his works began to be popular in Europe and the United States,its theory has been sought after by the academic community,including the public,and he also has become a cultural celebrity.Secondly,the context briefly introduces the spread of Baudrillard thought in china.Baudrillard's thought is introduced indirectly to china at the beginning through communication of literary and cultural circles in the late 80 s of last century.In the90 s,his thought began to be formally introduced,the book also began to be translated into Chinese.Before 2000,the domestic research on Baudrillard's thoughts are also scattered in the field of literature and culture,and has not formed a unified cognitive identity.Until after 2000,Baudrillard's early works were published in the Chinese translation.Baudrillard 's thought began to be sustained attention and research in the field of philosophy,and can be incorporated into the western Marx's research scope.In the second part,based on the logic of Baudrillard's symbolic exchange and the sociological analysis,the author selects the following three main concepts,trying to sort out the thinking of Baudrillard.The first concept is the concept of object.In Baudrillard object can be understood from two aspects: one is the object of the real consumption in our daily life;one is a sign,or a symbolic object with some kind of social discourse.Baudrillard's concept of symbol In has two kinds of functions:one is to represent the function of social prestige and privilege;one is the function of social distinction.The second is the concept of practice.In Baudrillard,the practice of things is the realistic choice,purchase(possession),expectation,etc.of human beings in society.Specific to the current consumersociety that Baudrillard focus on,the practice of object is the social consumption and consumer expectations of people in the society.The third is the concept of distinction.In Baudrillard,the class is the result of social division.Distinction at first is the distinction between the people in the society by the object that they have.Secondly,the distinction is social distinction.The social distinction of object highlights the social status and reputation,so that the division of strata is possible.Thus it can be seen that the function of social distinction is the logic of class.The third part corresponds to the first chapter of Baudrillard's text.In this chapter,Baudrillard highlights the social function of objects and their symbols-social values on the distinction of the concept of consumption.A concept of consumption is the concept of consumption based on the human needs and the value of the use of things that empirical knowledge embraces.The other concept of consumption is based on a social feedback mechanism and symbolic social values ??that the consumer attitudes.Empirical cognitive level of consumer attitudes is a clear discourse,which closely related to the needs of people and the function of things,where the value of the use of things in the priority position.Baudrillard pointed out that the idea of ??consumption based on the symbol of the object-social value is an implicit social discourse.Our consumption is not based on the use value and function of consumption goods.not the consumption of natural demand of our actual reality,but a kind of compulsory social logic that forces us to consume.To be able to better explain the distinction between these two kinds of consumption ideas,Baudrillard traces the initial state of primitive social consumption,introduced the phenomenon of "Kula" and "potlatch",and this ancient primitive tradition still retained today.In order to further highlight this concept of object based on consumption of social values,Baudrillard adopted Veblen's account of conspicuous consumption.Baudrillard finally proposed the concept of functional simulacra.The fourth part corresponds to the second chapter of Baudrillard's text.In this chapter,Baudrillard re-examines the status of things in the real world from the perspective of sociological research.He first paid attention to Chapin's research results.Starting with the social hierarchy of objects in the living room,he followed Chabin to systematically study the system of things and the social hierarchy they represented.He combed the list and arrangement of things.Although social strata can be simply divided by the list and arrangement of objects,it is too simplistic,rigid and arbitrary,and does not test the substance as a whole.He studied the matter as an environmental factor of the system constitution,and as a whole,considering the role of the whole environmental element is more effective in the social class division.However,such analysis is not sufficient,and the class division of a society will inevitably end up in a more detailed semiotic analysis of the environment and daily life of the practice of real things.This analysis is not based on a list or arrangement of things,nor is it based solely on the overall environmental aspects of the thing,but on the actual practice of the thing,the organization of the thing,and the way it is used.In Baudrillard's view,we can see through the analysisof the physical reality of living people's activity structure that human social conduct has more profound sociological research significance.The fifth part corresponds to the third chapter of Baudrillard's text.In this chapter,Baudrillard focuses his analysis on the middle class,with a lying stress on the different practice of the middle class.The expectations and practices of the middle class regarding things have always existed contradictions and compromises between their flowing and developing ideology and actual social inertia.The practice of individual submit to the social judgment,and recognize and accept the logic of society,even in the case of private ownership.The middle class is keen to accumulate wealth and symbols of the privileged class,celebrating a victory in a hidden way,the social recognition they won't be able to match.For the middle class,consumption is just a show off,a comparison,a challenge,or a member of society to conquer and yield each other.In the traditional society,objects have the function of enduring the social status.In today's society,mainly is to represent the function of social change.This characterization of social change is now concentrated in the fashion.The sixth part corresponds to the fourth chapter of Baudrillard's text.In this chapter Baudrillard goes beyond the analysis he has done before,and points out that an in-depth sociological analysis should point to a more differentiated hierarchical differentiation and a more detailed stratification in the social pyramid.In the logical analysis of social mechanisms,Baudrillard's analysis builds on the cultural strategies of the middle class and opposes them to the privileged class.This is an inappropriate simplification.It is a form of social ideology and political analysis.The sociological analysis based on functions of object is not merely a social or ideological or political analysis of the hierarchy and its relationships.More importantly,in its essence,is a universal fact,a social stratification and segregation analysis.The distinguishing function of objects will be identified in a discriminatory function,an exclusivity / distinction.From the perspective of consumption,we see that there exists an extreme opposition to the social logic of the whole culture,between things marked as a social value and things regarded as an objective function.Our practice of things also presents two different types,namely the practice of object based on the functions of object and the ritualistic practice of object based on social values.The ritual practice of objects is the core of our social logic,it does not distinguish the opposition of social logic,but with a discriminatory function,to create a universal exclusivity /distinction.In the universal illusion of consumption,the superior A group has always existed,and is distinguished by its material superiority,privileged social status,and moral sublimeness.It is a form of discrimination,an exclusive distinction,and the model class excludes the other classes.The rest of the class succumbed to the canonical class,materially,socially and economically,or morally.This is a morality of slavery.In the universality of consumption,people in society have generally succumbed to a symbolic symbol.Such a symbolic symbol may come from the model class,it may only be an unaffordable illusion.This is a kind of morality of slaves.In the universality of consumption,people inthe society have been universally subservient to a symbolic sign.This symbol may come from the model class,or it may be simply a far beyond reach illusion.The seventh part is the conclusion,divided into three sections.The first section titled Baudrillard's theoretical achievements,briefly reviewed Baudrillard's academic research career and achievements during his lifetime,and focused on Baudrillard's early ideological and theoretical achievements that the study of this paper focuses on.The second section titled Symbolic Political Economics,outlines Baudrillard's idea of symbolic exchanges on the social functions of contemporary consumer social goods.Based on this,Baudrillard has constructed symbolic political economy.It from the perspective of Baudrillard's sociological research absorbs and develops the traditional Marxist political economy.The third section titled Sign Political Economy as an effective supplement to Marx's political economy.In this chapter,the author puts Baudrillard's symbolic exchange ideas and symbolic political economics theory into the category of Marx's political economy,and reviews the ideological and theoretical relations of Baudrillard and Marx.