Hayek and Lefebvre on Market Space and Extra-Catallactic Relationships

Abstract

This chapter explores some surprising and underappreciated commonalities between F.A. Hayek and Henri Lefebvre's writings on the market. The hope is that a richer conception of the market might result – i.e. one that corrects for Lefebvre's "anti-market bias" and Hayek's "abstractness" – by facilitating an exchange between these two thinkers. Along with Ludwig von Mises, F.A. Hayek is one of the two most significant figures in the Austrian school of economics. His reach, however, extends beyond Austrian economics. He has also made significant contributions to political theory and jurisprudence and has influenced complexity theory and psychology. Lefebvre is an important Marxian philosopher and sociologist who has critically explored dialectal materialism, alienation, the political aspects of everyday life, and most famously, the production of social space. He has been quite influential in urban studies, geography, philosophy, musicology, and applied sociology.