Production of consumer spaces in the university

With an increasing proliferation of consumer practices within the United States university system, one crucial question often neglected is how spaces of consumption are produced. French Marxist philosopher and sociologist, Henri Lefebvre, provided a nuanced and innovative approach to examining the phenomenon of spatial production in his landmark work, The Production of Space. After reviewing the increase in consumerism within universities, Lefebvre’s framework will be employed to discuss how consumer spaces are produced within higher education and the implications of such spatial production for student populations. Materially, this mode of production expands and dematerializes a variety of spaces within the university to facilitate increased student spending and educational commodification. Ideologically, policies and practices become limited to a largely consumerist perspective. New spaces that foster critical pedagogy and praxis are needed within the university, lest the line between learning and consumption become blurred beyond recognition.