Many philosophers and sociologists of the twentieth century tried to determine and describe the level of development that the most economically successful countries have achieved. He was called both a developed industrial and post-industrial society, believing that systemic restructuring of the economy and achieving abundance will bring benefits to humanity. But the most critical and at the same time accurate description of such a society was proposed back in 1970 by the French philosopher-postmodernist, sociologist and culturologist Jean Baudrillard. “Consumer society” - since then this term has firmly entered our language, turning into something like a label. However, even though enough time has passed since the 70s, criticism of this ironic intellectual has not lost its significance or its relevance.
At one time, this famous philosopher emerged from the neo-Marxist environment, and to some extent adopted the analytical, lively and critical approach characteristic of Marx. We can say that his book "Consumer Society" is a kind of "Capital" of the twentieth century, it is only written in a different paradigm. The philosopher is interested not so much in the background of economic and social relations, as in the impact on people of everyday life. Indeed, while in Marx’s time, people's daily lives depended on the economy through social relations, now it has become dependent on technologies, the media, and other mass regulators that penetrate and govern our lives. Actually, Baudrillard devotes his book to this transformation of consumption from a means of survival into a means of dehumanization.
Consumer society is a characteristic of a new society where all human relations lose their meaning, turning into ritual schemes, signs for determining hierarchical status, or degenerating into competition. This "brave new world" practically destroyed the old, traditional consumption, when people bought some goods because they needed them, because they met their needs. He analyzes a completely different, “iconic” consumption, when a product is bought because it is fashionable, because it is advertised, because it is new. Thus, a thing loses its meaning, becoming obsolete even before it is bought, because advertising will immediately offer a new, more fashionable thing.
In addition, the consumer society makes senseless and communication between people, because it makes the buying process ostentatious. Consumption becomes a kind of code that regulates communication, because people not only prefer to talk about new purchases, but also value each other if possible to buy one or another item. This is a kind of game, not based on any natural reality, but only on its own. Things dominate people, they determine not only convenience and comfort, but also prestige, and they declare involvement in this vicious circle as freedom of choice and triumph of the individual.
Consumer society not only made a person and his feelings dependent on things, but reduced things to the level of signs that have no real meaning (simulacra), it also turned art into the same product, thing and simulacrum. The search for truth is supplanted by myths that are convenient to consume, serious literature and art are supplanted by entertaining genres. The manipulation of these genres has become a driving belt of power mechanisms and their ideology. In fact, human culture is also put on the conveyor, it is produced according to the template, it also depends on demand and consumption. Mankind has become accustomed to consuming certain signs and has ceased to perceive something original and truly individual.
The philosopher criticizes the consumer society for the fact that it is only in appearance a society of abundance and equality. This society and the simulacra it produces does not give a person any confidence, on the contrary, he stays in the race for new brands and signs and feels that he will not have time and will not be able to acquire another prestigious simulacrum. The predominance of simulacrum signs also leads to inequality, because a person who is not able to acquire new signs of prestige is thrown out of the circle of relationships where success is cultivated as a failure. Despite the fact that this book was written several decades ago, it shows that Jean Baudrillard actually predicted the main trends in the development of modern society.