The body in the modern world : reification and commodity fetishism : analysis of the phenomenon in the light of the fictions of Michel Houellebecq

Vol.43,No.2(2022)

Abstract
The modern world places a sine qua non value on everything that is bodily, physical, shape or appearance. The body becomes an integrated part of the capitalist system. Instrumentized, reified, it now determines the social value of individuals, allows them to rise to the ranks of the powerful and favorites or sit among the excluded and the destitute. The body exceeds, at this stage, money and profession in the valuation of beings. Michel Houellebecq exploits this component to acrimoniously scold the liberation of morals of May 68 to which he attributes all the responsibility for the withering away of all-out relationships precisely because of this immoderate emancipation of the body and the instrumentalization of relationships.

Keywords:
body; réification; market law; capitalism; sexuality

Pages:
153–164
References

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Fromm, E. (1977). La Conception de l'homme chez Marx. Payot et Rivages.

Houellebecq, M. (1994). Extension du domaine de la lutte. Paris : J'ai lu.

Houellebecq, M. (2010). La Carte et le territoire. Paris : Flammarion.

Houellebecq, M. (2005). La Possibilité d'une île. Paris : Fayard.

Houellebecq, M. (1998). Les Particules élémentaires. Paris : Flammarion.

Houellebecq, M. (2001). Plateforme. Paris : Flammarion.

Houellebecq, M. (2000). Poésies. Paris : J'ai lu.

Mauss, M. (2007). Essai sur le don. Paris : PuF, coll. "Quadrige Grands textes".

Viard, B. (2008). Houellebecq au laser : la faute à mai 68. Nice : Ovadia.

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