Henri Lefebvre

Best bit yet and although I feel Im becoming a bit like Stephen Fry and arrogantly talking to myself as if loads of people really want to read my thoughts, I cant help it! At least this module gives me a reason to do so.

Ive read this piece three times now and although I love the beatnik nature of Tom Wolfes piece Ive spent alot more time thinking about Lefebvres philosophy.

I think its generally about our concept, as players of the current cultural theory, of 'reality', in particular and in direct relation to our understanding of Space. We all know about Marxism and its conotations toward communism, but I certainly dont know the details, which I think is the reason I feel the need to understand it.

So to what degree is social space a product? To answer that question we have to ask what is a product, and what is social space. The issue of social space, certainly in Lefebvres mind, is intertwined with the human concept of product and reading this shit is fascinating, it challenges the things that everyone plays along with every day!

His discussions revolve around Marxist thinking, use value and exchange value. I see that as monetry (current political and economic) value and real, personal, natural value and that these are the very basic building blocks of a system that allows our current capitalist world to work.

As a result of this we discuss the difference between A product and A work and the more you get into it the more you realise that whilst both have their own distinction, they are, in current society, difficult to seperate and have been since at least Roman society.

Im rambling cos Ive drunk several bottles of wine and Ive had a mental week, but I think that the answer is that social space is a product, it may be far removed from the basic idea of a product, but it is a result of societal work, which is in turn a product of the political and economical world that weve all been living in for a long time!