Henri Lefebvre’s Marxian ecological critique: recovering a foundational contribution to environmental sociology

Foster, John Bellamy; Napoletano, Brian M.; Clark, Brett; Torres, Pedro Sergio Urquijo

doi:10.1080/23251042.2019.1670892

Cited by 10 publications

(11 citation statements)

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“…Prior to the rediscovery of Marx's theory of metabolic rift (Foster, 1999), Lefebvre (2016aLefebvre ( [1972: 121-122) stands out as one of the few thinkers to recognize the revolutionary significance of Marx and Engels's insights into the ways that, in disturbing 'the organic exchanges between man and nature', 'capitalism destroys nature and ruins its own conditions, preparing and announcing its revolutionary disappearance' (Foster et al, 2019). Thus, 'mastery over nature, associated with technology and the growth of productive forces, and subject solely to the demands of profit (surplus value), culminates in the destruction of nature.…”

Section: Nature-society Rupture and The Metabolic Riftmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As a vital aspect of a metabolic revolution, Lefebvre's theorization of autogestion also constitutes an important element of the social transformation needed to confront the metabolic rifts of capital (Napoletano et al, 2020). Lefebvre rarely draws an immediate link between autogestion and the ecological contradictions of capital, but important aspects of his conception of nature-society (that is, the conceptual triad formed by the mediation of nature, society, and their metabolism through human production, resulting in continual qualitative change and sublation), including his use of what is now referred to as Marx's theory of metabolic rift (Foster et al, 2019), strongly suggest that autogestion, as the key to 'appropriation' and 'de-alienation' (Lefebvre, 2009b(Lefebvre, [1966: 150), could act as the foundation for a radical notion of social-ecological sustainability that goes beyond the self-evident diametrical opposition between capital and sustainability (Lefebvre, 2014c(Lefebvre, [1973: 133; Mészáros, 2015: 162). For Brenner et al (2008: 244), 'in an era in which putatively left-wing parties across Europe and North America have become agents, enforcers, and apologists for various kinds of soft neoliberalism, Lefebvre's dissident critique of the French Left over two decades ago provides a welcome reminder of one essential ingredient within any radically democratic socialist politics: the ruthless critique of the capitalist growth dynamic in the name of alternative frameworks for the production of everyday life'.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Henri Lefebvre's conception of nature-society in the revolutionary project of autogestion

Napoletano

Torres

Clark

et al. 2022

Dialogues in Human Geography

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Henri Lefebvre's intricate material-dialectical approach to the nature-society problematic, taken together with his advocacy of a praxis oriented to total transformation from the ground up through autogestion, offers a unified, critical, and dialectical approach to political ecology. Unfortunately, his work in these areas has too often been interpreted as divided and fragmentary, splitting his radical analysis of the production of space-time from his critical praxis related to autogestion. We offer a corrective to this by elaborating briefly on his use of Marx's material-dialectical approach, outlining how Lefebvre brings this method to bear on the nature-society problematic, and how his theorization of autogestion points to a radical praxis aimed at overcoming the social-ecological contradictions of capital. His engagement with Marx's theory of metabolic rift, and his advocacy of a radical project of autogestion as part of the critique of everyday life, serve to place the underlying issue of alienation in spatial terms, offering geography a transformative perspective that avoids positing closed systems and attempting to exhaust the various meanings assigned to nature. In this, Lefebvre demonstrates how the nature-society problematic overflows issues of ontological framing and language, calling for a unity of radical theory and practice to overcome the separations.

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Section: Nature-society Rupture and The Metabolic Riftmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Henri Lefebvre's conception of nature-society in the revolutionary project of autogestion

Napoletano

Torres

Clark

et al. 2022

Dialogues in Human Geography

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“…The significance of Marx's ecological critique of capital [21], encompassing its radical implications for what is now called "sustainability", was not lost on Lefebvre, who readily incorporated it into his project of total revolution [30]. After recounting Marx's description of how capitalist production "disturbs the organic exchanges between man and nature" and incorporating it into his historical account of the city, Lefebvre [28] (pp.…”

Section: Lefebvre and The Metabolic Riftmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…[28]), and its insights into the contemporary "epochal crisis" of capital [29]. A renewed engagement with Lefebvre's scholarship is promising, as recent scholarship [30] has detailed how he was one of the few Marxist thinkers to recognize Marx's theory of metabolic rift and its implications prior to the concept's rediscovery by John Bellamy Foster [31]. Thus, it is possible to assess how Lefebvre employed the concept in the context of the total revolution (economic, political, and cultural) needed to realize the urban revolution, the radical transformation of everyday life, and the movement for autogestion, all of which directly speak to contemporary debates in sustainability.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability and Metabolic Revolution in the Works of Henri Lefebvre

Napoletano

Clark

Foster

et al. 2020

World

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Humanity’s present social–ecological metabolic configuration is not sustainable, and the need for a radical transformation of society to address its metabolic rifts with the rest of nature is increasingly apparent. The work of French Marxist Henri Lefebvre, one of the few thinkers to recognize the significance of Karl Marx’s theory of metabolic rift prior to its rediscovery at the end of the twentieth century, offers valuable insight into contemporary issues of sustainability. His concepts of the urban revolution, autogestion, the critique of everyday life, and total (or metabolic) revolution all relate directly to the key concerns of sustainability. Lefebvre’s work embodies a vision of radical social–ecological transformation aimed at sustainable human development, in which the human metabolic interchange with the rest of nature is to be placed under substantively rational and cooperative control by all its members, enriching everyday life. Other critical aspects of Lefebvre’s work, such as his famous concept of the production of space, his temporal rhythmanalysis, and his notion of the right to the city, all point to the existence of an open-ended research program directed at the core issues of sustainability in the twenty-first century.

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“…Di Perancis, reputasinya sebagai salah satu kontributor dalam epistemologi Marxist menempatkannya di sebelah tokoh-tokoh seperti Jean-Paul Sartre dan Louis Althusser. Lefebvre adalah pemikir abad kedua puluh, yang karyanya berhasil mengintegrasikan kritik kapitalisme di kehidupan sehari-hari 'everyday life' dan 'produksi ruang' (Foster, 2020).…”

Section: Pendahuluanunclassified

Komodifikasi Ruang dalam Program Televisi di Indonesia

Andreas

2020

SOCIA

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Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melihat lebih dalam fenomena komodifikasi ruang hunian yang ditayangkan di program televisi d’SIGN NET. Ruang yang menjadi fasilitas pemenuhan kebutuhan individu ditransformasikan menjadi kepentingan ekonomi. Dalam konteks mekanisme pasar, ruang bukanlah entitas yang netral dan alamiah, melainkan dibentuk, dikonstruksikan dan direproduksi untuk memenuhi hasrat, gaya hidup, dan budaya konsumsi sebagai implikasi praktik-praktik adanya industri media. Penelitian kualitatif ini menggunakan metode semiotika Roland Barthes yang di tampilkan di program d’SIGN NET. Hasil penelitian ini menunjukkan bahwa ruang hunian urban dikonstruksikan oleh media dengan mengacu pada konsep interior, klasik, minimalis, maupun kontemporer kelas menengah atas atau elite. Tata ruang, posisi, maupun warna menjadi konten estetik ruang hunian yang ideal, di antaranya ruang tamu, ruang tidur, dapur, ruang anak, kamar mandi dan sebagainya. Lebih lanjut, tayang ini merepresentasikan ruang sebagai objek fetish sebagai konten media, yang pada akhirnya bertujuan meningkatkan rating, maupun iklan dan menjadi bagian dari arus kapitalisme.

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Henri Lefebvre’s Marxian ecological critique: recovering a foundational contribution to environmental sociology

Cited by 10 publications

References 22 publications

Henri Lefebvre's conception of nature-society in the revolutionary project of autogestion

Henri Lefebvre's conception of nature-society in the revolutionary project of autogestion

Sustainability and Metabolic Revolution in the Works of Henri Lefebvre

Komodifikasi Ruang dalam Program Televisi di Indonesia

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