Henri Lefebvre's Theory Of Space

Henri Lefebvre in his book, The Production of Space, puts forward the proposition that space is a social product and this social space is produced within the social relations existing in the society. However, this concept is concealed by the illusion of transparency and the realistic illusion. He begins the book by going back to the history of space wherein space was perceived only in geometrical sense and it represented an empty area, but over time, many thinkers such as Descartes contributed towards shaping a more reasonable concept for space. Lefebvre further talks about the shift from the philosophy of space to the science of space. This idea was formed when mathematicians, disengaging themselves from philosophy seized space and time into

For this purpose, he proposes to do away with the existing codes relating to space which have been disintegrating for a long time now or construct new codes which adds to these existing codes of space. Therefore, there is a need for the reversal of the dominant tendency which will lead to a movement from products to production.
He then comes to the proposition that social space is a social product which can be expanded to be explained as space has its own reality within the present mode of production within the society. social space will thus be distinguishable from mental space and physical space. However, this fact is hidden due to the existence of double illusion namely: ⁃ The illusion of transparency- This illusion provides a perspective that space is free of traps. This proposition is in connection to the idea of classical philosophy bound with western culture which overemphasised the importance and validity of speech and the written word to the impair a social practice which it designed to hide. Anything which is not communicated ceased to exist. This idea lead to the existence of the illusion of transparency. This illusion is consider to be linked closely with philosophical

As the concept of social space is relatively new in nature and due to its complexity, analysis of the same becomes difficult. Social space contains (1) social relations of production which can be described as the biological relationship shared by the different sexes and between age groups alongside the family organisation. (2) relations of production which refers to the division of labor and the hierarchical form of relationship they excersice in the production process. These two relations are interrelated according to Lefebvre and their interrelationship constituted the social reproduction. However, with the introduction of capitalism and neo-capitalism, a three tiered interrelated levels have been introduced which are (1) biological reproduction which is the family, (2) reproduction of labor power which constitutes the working class and (3) reproduction of social relations of production which constitutes those relationships which are basic to capitalism. Lefebvre develops a conceptual triad which