Henri Lefebvre's Marxian ecological critique: recovering a foundational contribution to environmental sociology. Issue 1 (2nd January 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Foster, John Bellamy; Napoletano, Brian M.; Clark, Brett; Urquijo, Pedro S.
• Is Part Of: Environmental sociology. Volume 6:Issue 1(2020)
• Page Start: 31
• Page End: 41
• Publication Date: 2020-01-02
• Subjects: Henri Lefebvre -- Karl Marx -- dialectics of nature -- metabolic rift -- ecological crisis -- critique of everyday life -- Western Marxism; Environmental sociology -- Periodicals; 363.7
• DOI: 10.1080/23251042.2019.1670892
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2325-1042

Abstract

ABSTRACT: French Marxist sociologist, Henri Lefebvre, was one of the foremost social theorists of the twentieth century, celebrated for his critiques of everyday life, urban revolution, and the production of space. We argue here that his mature work also encompassed a theory of ecological crisis, drawing directly on Marx's theory of metabolic rift. In this conception, the dialectics of nature and society were subject to alienated capitalist accumulation, giving rise to metabolic rifts, epochal crises, and new historical moments of revolutionary praxis aimed at the metamorphosis of everyday life. Lefebvre thus ranks as one of the foundational contributors to environmental sociology, whose rich theoretical analysis offers the possibility of a wider social and ecological synthesis.