Critique of Everyday Life, Volume 2Henri Lefebvre's three-volume Critique of Everyday Life is perhaps the richest, most prescient work by one of the twentieth century's greatest philosophers. The first volume presented an introduction to the concept of everyday life. Written twenty years later, this second volume attempts to establish the necessary formal instruments for analysis, and outlines a series of theoretical categories within everyday life such as the theory of the semantic field and the theory of moments. The moment at which the book appeared—1961—was significant both for France and for Lefebvre himself: he was just beginning his career as a lecturer in sociology at Strasbourg, and then at Nanterre, and many of the ideas which were influential in the events leading up to 1968 are to be found in this critique. In its impetuous, often undisciplined prose, the reader may catch a glimpse of how charismatic a lecturer Lefebvre must have been. |
Contents
Preface by Michel Trebitsch | 1 |
The Formal Implements | 100 |
The Specific Categories | 180 |
Logos logic dialectic | 244 |
Logic and characterology | 263 |
The total field | 272 |
1 | 276 |
Signals | 278 |
The Theory of Accumulative and Nonaccumulative Processes 1 Critique of the idea of progress | 315 |
Nonaccumulative societies | 317 |
The concept of the process of accumulation | 322 |
Generalization of the concept | 325 |
Nonaccumulative processes | 332 |
The pedagogic and culturalist illusion | 337 |
Typology of repetition | 340 |
Moments and language | 341 |
Signs | 280 |
The symbol | 284 |
The image | 287 |
On several confusions | 290 |
The properties of the semantic field | 294 |
Consciousness and the semantic field | 296 |
The laws of the semantic field | 300 |
The social text | 306 |
Dialogue discussion conversation | 312 |
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Common terms and phrases
absolute abstract action activity Alfred Sauvy alienation ambiguity analysis appears archaic aspects bourgeoisie coherent completely concept concrete conflicts conjuncture consciousness contradictions creative critique of everyday culture defined determined dialectic of nature dialectical movement dialectical thought disalienation discontinuous discourse economic Edgar Morin elements empiricism everything expression fact fetishism formal function Gaston Bachelard Georges Gurvitch grasp groups Hegel Henri Lefebvre human idea ideology impossible individual knowledge labour language linked lived logical Marx Marxist means mediation metamorphosed modern moments nature nucleuses objects ontology philosophical political possible practice praxis precise problems process of accumulation process of becoming production proletariat pure reality relation relative repetition representations reveals rhythms semantic field sense signal signification signs situation social text society sociology specific spontaneity stability structure symbols theoretical theory things tion totality Trans transformation unmediated whole words