Jean Baudrillard in the context of Critique of economy

In sociology and in economics, the term sign value denotes and describes the value accorded to an object because of the prestige (social status) that it imparts upon the possessor, rather than the material value and utility derived from the function and the primary use of the object. For example, the buyer of a Rolls-Royce limousine might partly value the automobile as transport, yet might also value it as a sign that signifies his or her wealth to a particular community and to society in general. The automobile's transport-function is primary, from which arises its use-value, whilst the social prestige function is secondary, from which arises its sign-value.

The French sociologist Jean Baudrillard proposed the theory of sign value as a philosophic and economic counterpart to the dichotomy of exchange-value vs. use-value, which Karl Marx recognized as a characteristic of capitalism as an economic system.

Richard G. Smith is a British geographer. His research focuses on the philosophy of Jean Baudrillard, and urban studies, especially on poststructuralist cities.

Hyperreality is a concept in post-structuralism that refers to the process of the evolution of notions of reality, leading to a cultural state of confusion between signs and symbols invented to stand in for reality, and direct perceptions of consensus reality. Hyperreality is seen as a condition in which, because of the compression of perceptions of reality in culture and media, what is generally regarded as real and what is understood as fiction are seamlessly blended together in experiences so that there is no longer any clear distinction between where one ends and the other begins.

The term was proposed by French philosopher Jean Baudrillard, whose postmodern work contributed to a scholarly tradition in the field of communication studies that speaks directly to larger social concerns. Postmodernism was established through the social turmoil of the 1960s, spurred by social movements that questioned preexisting conventions and social institutions. Through the postmodern lens, reality is viewed as a fragmented, complimentary and polysemic system with components that are produced by social and cultural activity. Social realities that constitute consensus reality are constantly produced and reproduced, changing through the extended use of signs and symbols which hence contribute to the creation of a greater hyperreality.