Alienation in Everyday Life: Case Study of Urban Space in Tehran

Such issues as authoritative space design, unproductivity of urban management, and the inability of urban space to facilitate the emergence of differences and transfer of meaning lead to the experience of alienation in the daily life of the residents of Tehran. Taking an anthropological and critical approach and applying Henri Lefebvre’s theory of production of space, this research compared class experience of alienation among the residents of Tehran. Alienation was defined as an instrumental relationship against a relationship for its own sake and appropriation against ownership. Space of stock market, Khalij Fars Lake and Khalazir neighborhood were selected as representatives of abstract and concrete spaces as well as Lefebvre’s trialectics of space. Multiple data were collected through observation, photos, personal interviews, previous studies and ethnographies, documentaries, organizational documents, press reports and online survey about every space. The data was coded, categorized, and analyzed interpretatively and inductively through formal, functional, and structural analysis. The study showed that alienation with others, self, labor, urban space, and everyday life, is a common experience between all classes and is related to the spatial order of the city, but it finds different meanings in the center and the periphery and is integrated in the everyday consciousness in a different way. Alienation in relation of production is experienced in the meaningless work, competitive market, and commodification are common experiences on a global scale, while political and cultural alienations depend on the specific characteristics of Tehran. The moments may be liberating at a level of social reality and remain fruitless at a higher level. The diverse manifestations of daily life, along with prohibitions, fears, and gaps, prevent the formation of collective consciousness and, as a result, a collective effort to de-alienation.