Tuesday, 8 November 2016

Session Seven: The Production of Space


This reading is the chapter 'Social Space' pages 68-80. This material should be downloadable via your booklist on moodle (hopefully the Paul Mason chapter 'The Rational Reason for Panic' and Marshall Berman on Faust are also available this way- let me know if there is a bug in the system).
This reading involves materialist interrogation of words and their meanings, and in that interrogation (not a pleasant word but an appropriate one) we begin to read ideologies that lie hidden beneath appearances. Take the word 'home'. The media is rife with the screaming need for 'homes', but the word 'home' has particular connotations. Really what can only be provided is 'houses' or perhaps 'accommodations'. 'Homes' smacks of advertising.
I read this segment each year and whilst it's a bit of a struggle I always get something more out of it. In particular the difference between 'work' and 'product' talked through here. This should shine some light on discussions you no doubt find yourself having all the time about the value of technology (or for that matter the value of human labour) highly pertinent to the world in general, let alone architectural production.
If English is your second language, you may find this stuff even more difficult, but feel for the translator who had to convert it from the original French! In your reading, when the going gets tough, I would recommend searching 'short cuts' via the web to get some background on how to situate Lefebvre, and the best background of all, if you are stuck with the idea of Lefebvre's Marxism in the first place, is to read Marxism for Beginners, a cheap cartoon book by Ruis which is an invaluable springboard.

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