Jean Baudrillard is one of the most celebrated and controversial of contemporary social theorists. Translated into English for the first time, this remarkable volume examines the full extent of his critical appraisal of social theories including traditional Marxism, cybernetics, ethnography, psychoanalysis, and feminist thought. In particular, it offers the most complete elaboration of Baudrillard's concept of the simulacrum and his reorientation of social theory toward the issues of fashion, the body, and death. Symbolic Exchange and Death, originally published in France in 1976, is a recognized classic and one of the most important sources for the redefinition of contemporary social thought. "Just when everyone is bored with Baudrillard, the academic establishment finally gets it together to translate the po-mo prophet's most important book. First published in 1976, this has appeared piecemeal in various guerrilla translations and already had its cultural effect. It's just a relief to get the full SP on the semiology of the death drive." -- I-D "This is easily Jean Baudrillard's most important work. It is a key intervention in the debates on modernity and postmodernity and the site of his postmodern turn. Anyone who wants to understand the complexity and provocativeness of Baudrillard's richest period must read this book." --Douglas Kellner, University of Texas at Austin