Time, space, city and resistance : situating Negri's multitude in the contemporary metropolis : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Masters in Public Policy at Massey University, Auckland, New Zealand
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Date
2009
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Massey University
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Abstract
Cities are not merely inanimate objects. They are complex living
environments, built over time by cultures and civilisations. This thesis argues
that cities have a central place in human history and civilisation because they
are imbued with meaning and meaningful activity. Thus, cities are inherently
political spaces, and it may be reasonably expected that they will be important
sites of social transformation in the postmodern era. In order to understand
the relationship between urban space and political consciousness, this thesis
traces several different interpretive paths within the marxist tradition. First, we
examine the work of Henri Lefebvre, who argues for an understanding of
urban space as socially produced. Next, the thesis looks at the contributions
of Guy Debord, particularly at his understanding of the relation between time
and the city. Both writers struggle to understand the urban in the context of
the shift to what we now call postmodernity. Despite their many strengths,
Debord and Lefebvre ultimately fail to theorise a social subject capable of
resisting capitalist domination of the city. As a result, the thesis turns to a
consideration of the work of Antonio Negri. Negri’s analysis of the fate of
contemporary subjectivity has reinvigorated marxist critique with a return to
the question of political change. His figure of the multitude takes leave of
traditional marxism in challenging and productive ways, and helps us better
understand the nature of subjectivity and resistance in a world of immaterial
labour and virtuality. Nevertheless, this thesis argues that there is still work to
be done before Negri’s work can be mapped out onto the contemporary
metropolis.
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Urban space, Political socialisation