In search of the “real”: to the question of authenticity interpretation in the concept of social space by H. Lefebvre

At the present time, contradictory processes are taking place in cities: on the one hand, the commodification of the unique features of the city, on the other, the erasure of differences and the loss of the city’s “soul”; painstaking work on branding territories, and at the same time, their depressing similarities. The question remains relevant: what analytical concepts can be used to describe and explain the transformations taking place in cities? This article proposes the concept of authenticity as a research tool. This concept is becoming more and more popular in the social sciences, but it is mainly used in theoretical works and is practically not used in applied research. This is due to the lack of a unified approach to the sociological definition of authenticity, and, as a consequence, to the absence of stable indicators for measuring it in empirical research. This article provides an overview of approaches to the definition of authenticity, a method for their classification is proposed (authenticity as an objective characteristic, as a social construct and as a feeling). Authenticity as an objective characteristic is based on confirmed authorship or attribution to time, place, technology. Authenticity as a constructed category is based on the perception of images of a place, its symbols and statuses. Authenticity as a human feeling arises in the process of individual and collective activity in space and is characterized as a feeling of “rootedness”, “reality” and the usefulness of experience. It is possible to catch these three manifestations and describe authenticity in its multidimensionality by applying the concept of social space by H. Lefebvre, the “spatial triad”, which consists of representations of space, space of representations and spatial practices.