Guy Debord (1931–1994) based his social critique on the concept of spectacle. To do so, he drew on Marx’s work, particularly his analysis of commodities. This article analyzes the nature and scope of Debord’s use of Marx, comparing it in particular to the neo-Marxist interpretation of Marx in value criticism, and specifically to Anselm Jappe’s approach. Is Debord’s concept of the spectacle entirely reducible to Marx’s concept of commodities? Or are Marx’s commodities merely a specific, historically situated case of a more general matrix, the spectacle in Debord’s sense?
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