“A new kind of fear”: Jean Baudrillard's neo‐Durkheimian theory of mass‐mediated suicide

Abstract

The classical Durkheimian understanding of violence has been significantly augmented in recent decades by a neo‐Durkheimian analysis of the dual nature of the sacred and mass‐mediated ritual. A good deal of the post‐1970s thought of Jean Baudrillard, including his controversial writings on the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, was centrally concerned with the ways in which the media shape the social experience of violence. In this chapter I argue that his theoretical reconceptualisation of the meaning of suicide, which can reasonably be described as Durkheimian in its essentials, offers a useful tool for making sense of the fascination exerted on viewers by some mediated acts of self‐destructive violence.