Lecture critique et (re)valorisation sémiotique de la valeur « critique » chez J.-M. Floch

Abstract

J.-M. Floch’s axiology of consumption has become a marketing staple. However, among his four types of values, the “critical” position still generates confusion and continues to be misunderstood by many as being exclusively limited to the notion of value for money. A perusal of Floch’s various explanations about the construction of his model highlights the reductive nature of this interpretation. The critical value of a product can also derive from its technicality, from the fact that it is intelligently thought out, or, ultimately, from the admiring astonishment that it can arouse. On the one hand, Floch compares it to the smartness of Ulysses, who can be considered as the paragon of the “metis” of the ancient Greeks. On the other hand, the critical value is not entirely alien to the ludic value and its aesthetic dimension. Eventually, the critical value can be associated with the concept of efficiency, insofar as it finds itself in a relationship of implication with the practical value which, for its part, is linked to that of effectiveness.