Page 189 - Cultural Theory

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••• William Merrin •••

radically critiques the naïvety of all other cultural theories and the possibility of
cultural theory and sociology itself. He also, however, derives his own critique from
an established Durkheimian sociological tradition and so, at some level, remains
caught within its processes (Gane, 1995: 120–1), while advancing a theory that, as I
have argued, has considerable relevance for understanding our contemporary cul-
ture. While this may merely show how far the real has advanced in realizing his ideas
and thus may yet be a barometer of the seriousness of our condition, it also opens up
the space for a more interesting response to him. For, if to ‘follow’ another is, as
Baudrillard says, a ‘murderous’ game (1983c: 78), stealing the other’s goal from him
(1993c: 156), then following Baudrillard, discovering his ideas in the world and real-
izing his work for him, brings, with its success, Baudrillard’s disappearance, his reduc-
tion to truth. Only a violent opposition to his work, therefore, can keep him alive as
a theorist. But there is another option too: of following Baudrillard and moving
beyond him. If Baudrillard’s ideas are challenges to the real, and challenges to
theory and the process of theorizing, they are also a challenge to us. The only accept-
able response to the gift, is not to refuse, which only lowers oneself, but to accept
and to give back more. This is what we must now attempt: this speculation to the
death is our challenge; this escalation and reversal are what Baudrillard himself
wants (Zurbrugg, 1997: 42, 45). Please follow him.

Note

1 Except, of course, for Baudrillard, the passage to a ‘transeconomics’ takes us beyond such an
event: ‘the 1929 crisis could not recur today. It has been replaced by perpetual crisis simula-
tion’ (1990b: 217).

References

Barthes, R. (1973a) Mythologies. London: Paladin Books.
Barthes, R. (1973b) Elements of Semiology. New York: Hill and Wang.
Barthes, R. (1990) The Fashion System. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Barthes, R. (1993) Camera Lucida. London: Vintage Books.
Bataille, G. (1962) Eroticism. London: Marion Boyars Publishers Ltd.
Bataille, G. (1985) Visions of Excess. Selected Writings, 1927–1939. New York: Zone Books.
Bataille, G. (1991) The Accursed Share, Vol. 1. New York: Zone Books.
Bataille, G. (1992) Theory of Religion. New York: Zone Books.
Baudrillard, J. (1975) The Mirror of Production. St Louis, M: Telos.
Baudrillard, J. (1981) For a Critique of the Political Economy of the Sign. St Louis, M.: Telos.
Baudrillard, J. (1983a) In the Shadow of the Silent Majorities. Semiotext(e): New York.
Baudrillard, J. (1983b) ‘What are you doing after the orgy?’ Artforum Oct., pp. 42–6.
Baudrillard, J. (1983c) Please Follow Me (with Sophie Calle, Suite venitienne). Seattle: Bay Press.
Baudrillard, J. (1987) Forget Foucault. New York: Semiotext(e).
Baudrillard, J. (1989) ‘Politics of seduction’, Marxism Today January, pp. 54–5.
Baudrillard, J. (1990a) Seduction. London: Macmillan.
Baudrillard, J. (1990b) Cool Memories. London: Verso.
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