Henri Lefebvre (16 June 1901 – 29 June 1991) was a French Marxist philosopher and sociologist, best known for pioneering the critique of everyday life, for introducing the concepts of the right to the city and the production of social space, and for his work on dialectics, alienation, and criticism of Stalinism, existentialism, and structuralism. In his prolific career, Lefebvre wrote more than sixty books and three hundred articles.
Born: 16 June 1901 Hagetmau, France
Died: 29 June 1991 (aged 90) Navarrenx, France
Alma mater
University of Paris (MA, 1920; DrE, 1954)
Main interests
Everyday life · Dialectics ·Alienation · Mystification ·Social space · Urbanity ·Rurality · Modernity · Literature ·History
Notable ideas
Critique of everyday life ·Theory of moments ·Rhythmanalysis · Right to the city · The production of social space
Influences
- Marx · Hegel · Nietzsche · Engels · Lenin ·Heidegger · Bachelard · Barthes · Rabelais ·Rousseau · Heraclitus · Axelos · Merleau-Ponty ·
Influenced
- Guy Debord · Jean Baudrillard · Michel de Certeau · David Harvey · Raoul Vaneigem ·Bryan Reynolds · Edward Soja · Fredric Jameson · the Situationist International ·Mark Poster · Neil Smith · Jean-Paul Sartre
Outside Henri’s house in Navarrenx, France is this plaque
My thanks to Tony Timmins for this photo.