From the loss of experience to the fragmentation of the subject: radical mutation and continuity of capitalism based on Fredric Jameson and Walter Benjamin

Abstract

This paper explores Fredric Jameson’s stance on postmodernism as the cultural logic of late capitalism, examining the intersections between the subjective experiences that his analysis identifies as foundational to postmodern artistic-cultural productions and Walter Benjamin’s reflections on the replacement of Erfahrung by Erlebnis that the implementation of industrial capitalism entails. After exploring the nature and consequences of this replacement, linked to the form of ideology that Benjamin assigns to capitalist society, Jameson’s assimilation of late capitalism with the “society of the spectacle” is studied, as well as the new social role that culture acquires in it. Furthermore, it supports Jameson’s perspective on postmodernism by arguing that the originality of his creations stems from a radical mutation of the realm of experience that does not contradict the historical continuity of capitalism.