Henri Lefebvre 1901 – 1991

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

Henri Lefebvre plaque

My thanks to Tony Timmins for this photo.