Jürgen Habermas: The Public Sphere

• German sociologist and philosopher

• Focuses on social theory, democracy, law and contemporary politics

• Believed that there existed a possibility for community, through "communicative action", that strives for agreement between others - this is rationality itself

• He stressed the importance for having an "ideal speech situation", in which citizens are able to raise moral and political concerns, and defend them by rationality alone

• He expressed the idea of a "Public Sphere" in his book 'The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere - An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society'

The Public Sphere

• Habermas defines the public sphere as the sphere of private people who join together to form a "public"

• Emphasises the role of the public sphere as a way for civil society to articulate its interests

• The public sphere existed in the Middle Ages, involving the king/lord representing himself before an audience; the king was the only public person, and all others were spectators.              - The public and private realms were not separated.

• The public sphere developed out of the private institution of the family, and from what Habermas calls the "literary public sphere", where discussion of art and literature became possible for the first time

• Habermas argues that the world of the mass media is cheap and powerful, and that it attempts to manipulate and create a public where none exists, and to manufacture consensus

• Habermas: Public opinion is manipulative and critical - A strong public sphere is needed to check domination by the state and non-governmental organizations