Henri Lefebvre Books

Identifies categories within everyday life, such as the theories of the semantic field and of moments.

The book delves into the challenges posed by modernity, examining how technological advancements shape contemporary life. It critically assesses the impact of technological modernism on society, culture, and individual identity, highlighting both its transformative potential and the crises it engenders. Through a nuanced exploration of these themes, the work invites readers to reflect on the implications of living in an increasingly technology-driven world.

Henri Lefebvre was one of the most significant and influential social theorists of the 20th century. His impressive body of work crosses multiple disciplines including sociology, philosophy, economics, politics and cultural studies. In Everyday Life in the Modern World Lefebvre reveals the decisions and events which, day to day, we know very little about and do not actively participate in and yet have a profound effect on our lives. He considers the impact of consumerism, language and mass media on everyday life using a variety of critical approaches including Marxism and Structuralism. The Revelations edition includes an introduction by Philip Wander in which he discusses the context and importance of the book, particularly in the fields of communications, work, science and technology. This is Lefebvre's manifesto for a new cultural revolution of the everyday which is as relevant today as it ever was.

A collection of previously untranslated writings by Henri Lefebvre on rural sociology, situating his research in relation to wider Marxist work On the Rural is the first English collection to translate Lefebvre's crucial but lesser-known writings on rural sociology and political economy, presenting a wide-ranging approach to understanding the historical and rural sociology of precapitalist social forms, their endurance today, and conditions of dispossession and uneven development. In On the Rural, Stuart Elden and Adam David Morton present Lefebvre's key works on rural questions, including the first half of his book Du rural à l'urbain and supplementary texts, two of which are largely unknown conference presentations published outside France. On the Rural offers methodological orientations for addressing questions of economy, sociology, and geography by deploying insights from spatial political economy to decipher the rural as a terrain and stake of capitalist transformation. By doing so, it reveals the production of the rural as a key site of capitalist development and as a space of struggle. This volume delivers a careful translation--supplemented with extensive notes and a substantive introduction--to cement Lefebvre's central contribution to the political economy of rural sociology and geography.

The work of leading intellectual Henri Lefebvre explores the intricacies of political and state theory, delving into the dynamics of power, space, and social relations. Lefebvre's analysis challenges traditional notions of the state, emphasizing the role of everyday life in shaping political realities. Through a critical lens, he examines how spatial practices influence societal structures and the implications for governance and resistance. This thought-provoking exploration invites readers to reconsider the relationship between space, society, and the state.

This work is a catalog of certain cultural objects that have been lost over time

Originally published in French as La pensaee marxiste et la ville. Copyright 1972 by Casterman.

Henri Lefebvre’s magnum opus: a monumental exploration of contemporary society. Henri Lefebvre’s three-volume Critique of Everyday Life is perhaps the richest, most prescient work by one of the twentieth century’s greatest philosophers. Written at the birth of post-war consumerism, the Critique was a philosophical inspiration for the 1968 student revolution in France and is considered to be the founding text of all that we know as cultural studies, as well as a major influence on the fields of contemporary philosophy, geography, sociology, architecture, political theory and urbanism. A work of enormous range and subtlety, Lefebvre takes as his starting-point and guide the “trivial” details of quotidian experience: an experience colonized by the commodity, shadowed by inauthenticity, yet one which remains the only source of resistance and change. This is an enduringly radical text, untimely today only in its intransigence and optimism.

Exploring the emergence of modernity, the author delves into the sociological and philosophical shifts that shaped contemporary society. Key themes include the transformation of social structures, the impact of technological advancements, and the evolution of individual identity. Through a critical lens, the work examines how these changes influence human behavior and societal norms, offering insights into the complexities of modern life.

"Originally published in French as Le materialisme dialectique."