ABSTRACT
This chapter defines, with respect to the capitalist mode of production, a category of conflicts that are not in the classical Marxist sense, class conflicts: conflicts around the communal living space. It shows that the departure is provided by a discussion of the meaning of the communal living space for labor. Two meanings apparent in the historical experience of capitalist societies are sketched out: communal living space as community and communal living space as commodity. The chapter discusses the relations between labor's communal living space, and those capitals which see the development of urban land as a means of accumulation are outlined. Urban land development as a means of accumulation presupposes a definition of the living space as a consumption artifact, as a way-station between less desirable, socially obsolescent housing packages and the yet-to-be-fashioned. The chapter outlines the ways in which capitals work both through the market and through the State to achieve these goals.
