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Critical Notes on Habermas's Theory of the Public Sphere

14 Feb 2011-Social Science Research Network (European University of Tirana)-
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine Habermas's account of the transformation of the public sphere in modern society, and demonstrate that, whilst Habe rmas's approach succeeds in offering useful insights into the structural transformation of public spheres in the early modern period, it does not provide an adequate theoretical framework for understanding the structural transformations in late modern societies.
Abstract: The main purpose of this paper is to examine Habermas's account of the transformation of the public sphere in modern society. More specifically, the study aims to demonstrate that, whilst Habermas's approach succeeds in offering useful insights into the structural transformation of the public sphere in the early modern period, it does not provide an adequate theoretical framework for understanding the structural transformation of public spheres in late modern societies. To the extent that the gradual differentiation of social life manifests itself in the proliferation of multiple public spheres, a critical theory of public normativity needs to confront the challenges posed by the material and ideological complexity of late modernity in order to account for the polycentric nature of advanced societies. With the aim of showing this, the paper is divided into three sections. The first section elucidates the sociological meaning of the public/private dichotomy. The second section scrutinizes the key features of Habermas's theory of the public sphere by reflecting on (i) the concept of the public sphere, (ii) the normative specificity of the bourgeois public sphere, and (iii) the structural transformation of the public sphere in modern society. The third section explores the most substantial shortcomings of Habermas's theory of the public sphere, particularly its inability to explain the historical emergence and political function of differentiated public spheres in advanced societies.
Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Bourdieu and Boltanski's La production de l'ideologie dominante as mentioned in this paper, which was originally published in Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales in 1976, has received little serious attention in the Anglophone literature on contemporary French sociology.
Abstract: This article aims to demonstrate the enduring relevance of Pierre Bourdieu and Luc Boltanski’s ‘La production de l’ideologie dominante’ [‘The production of the dominant ideology’], which was originally published in Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales in 1976. More than three decades later, in 2008, a re-edited version of this study was printed in book format as La production de l’ideologie dominante, which was accompanied by a detailed commentary, written by Luc Boltanski and entitled Rendre la realite inacceptable. A propos de « La production de l’ideologie dominante » [Making Reality Unacceptable. Comments on ‘The production of the dominant ideology’]. In addition to containing revealing personal anecdotes and providing important sociological insights, this commentary offers an insider account of the genesis of one of the most seminal pieces Boltanski co-wrote with his intellectual father, Bourdieu. In the Anglophone literature on contemporary French sociology, however, the theoretical contributions made both in the original study and in Boltanski’s commentary have received little – if any – serious attention. This article aims to fill this gap in the literature, arguing that these two texts can be regarded not only as forceful reminders of the fact that the ‘dominant ideology thesis’ is far from obsolete but also as essential for understanding both the personal and the intellectual underpinnings of the tension-laden relationship between Bourdieu and Boltanski. Furthermore, this article offers a critical overview of the extent to which the unexpected, and partly posthumous, reunion between ‘the master’ (Bourdieu) and his ‘dissident disciple’ (Boltanski) equips us with powerful conceptual tools, which, whilst illustrating the continuing centrality of ‘ideology critique’, permit us to shed new light on key concerns in contemporary sociology and social theory. Finally, the article seeks to push the debate forward by reflecting upon several issues that are not given sufficient attention by Bourdieu and Boltanski in their otherwise original and insightful enquiry into the complexities characterizing the daily production of ideology.

48 citations


Additional excerpts

  • ...…138–141, 146 n. 16, 153, 157, 159, 160, 178, 191, 215, 223, 224, 225, 226, 243, 251, 252, 253, 267, 309, and 312; Susen (2011c), pp. 371, 389, 399, and 402; Susen (2011e), pp. 50, 51, 55, 57, 76, and 82; Susen (2013c), pp. 204–205, 208, 209, 218, 219, 221, 222, 223, 225, 227, 228, and 231 n.…...

    [...]

  • ...…and Mouchard (2000a); de Blic and Mouchard (2000b); Frère (2004), esp. pp. 92–93 and 97 n. 4; Nachi (2006), pp. 188–189; Nachi (2014); Robbins (2014); Susen (2007), pp. 223–224, 227 n. 25, 228 n. 50, 229 n. 51, 229 n. 52, and 271 n. 24; Susen (2011a), esp. pp. 450–458; Wagner (1999); Wagner (2000)....

    [...]

  • ...On this point, see Susen (2011e), pp. 58–60 and 77....

    [...]

  • ...See also, for example: Browne and Susen (2014), esp. pp. 217–218, 221–223, and 226; Holloway and Susen (2013); Susen (2007), pp. 61–73; Susen (2009), esp. pp. 85–87; Susen (2010c), pp. 110 and 112–113; Susen (2011d), pp. 46, 49, 50, 51, and 58; Susen (2012a)....

    [...]

  • ...On the centrality of this point, see, for example: Susen (2007), pp. 135–137 and 262; Susen (2011a), esp. pp. 449–451; Susen (2011c), p. 376; Susen (2011e), pp. 49–51, 69, 75–76, and 82; Susen (2012b), pp. 689, 692, 695–698, 699–701, 710–711, and 713–715; Susen (2013c), pp. 206–206, 223–224, and…...

    [...]

Journal ArticleDOI
Leigh Turner1

44 citations

Dissertation
10 Nov 2017
TL;DR: In this paper, a travail analyse ainsi les different manieres de figurer l’intimite, and interroge en outre la destination and la reception des œuvres, afin de comprendre ce que nous revele la demonstration de l'inimite sur les mœurs de la societe francaise au tournant du XIXe siecle.
Abstract: Cette these s’attache a etudier les representations de la vie intime, realisees dans des techniques et sur des supports varies (peinture, dessin, gravure), entre 1780 et 1815. A cette periode, l’intimite connait une evolution semantique et une utilisation plus developpee : d’une acception limitee a la definition des liens entre deux individus, progressivement sa signification prend une tournure secrete, et s’etend a tout ce que nous ne devoilons qu’a un cercle reduit d’individus – qu’il s’agisse du for interieur, des sentiments affectifs ou encore de la sexualite. Ces changements semantiques sont accompagnes d’une evolution des pratiques domestiques, culturelles et litteraires qui corroborent l’idee d’une periode decisive dans l’histoire de l’intimite. Ce travail analyse ainsi les differentes manieres de figurer l’intimite, et interroge en outre la destination et la reception des œuvres, afin de comprendre ce que nous revele la demonstration de l’intimite sur les mœurs de la societe francaise au tournant du XIXe siecle. L’examen de differents modes de diffusion et d’exposition des images, ainsi que le depouillement des temoignages ecrits offerts par la critique permettent de cerner les gouts du public et d’avoir une idee sur la place qui etait accordee a ces images, dans les expositions publiques et dans les collections privees.

38 citations

References
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Book
01 Jan 1962

5,009 citations

Book ChapterDOI
TL;DR: The idea of domestic privacy is to exclude some issues and interests from public debate by personalizing and/or familiarizing them; it casts these as privatedomestic or personal-familial matters in contradistinction to public, political matters.
Abstract: One important object of interpublic contestation is the appropriate boundaries of the public sphere. The civic republican model stresses a view of politics as people reasoning together to promote a common good that transcends the mere sum of individual preferences. The idea is that through deliberation the members of the public can come to discover or create such a common good. In the process of their deliberations, participants are transformed from a collection of self-seeking, private individuals into a public-spirited collectivity, capable of acting together in the common interest. The rhetoric of domestic privacy seeks to exclude some issues and interests from public debate by personalizing and/or familiarizing them; it casts these as private-domestic or personal-familial matters in contradistinction to public, political matters. The public sphere, in short, is not the state; it is rather the informally mobilized body of nongovernmental discursive opinion that can serve as a counterweight to the state.

4,586 citations

Book
01 Jan 1932
TL;DR: The authors made easily accessible the most important parts of Marx's and Engels's major early philosophical work, The German Ideology, a text of key importance for students, making it easily accessible.
Abstract: This edition makes easily accessible the most important parts of Marx's and Engels's major early philosophical work, The German Ideology, a text of key importance for students.

4,492 citations

Book
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TL;DR: In this article, the authors discuss the Media and the Development of Modern Societies and the Rise of Mediated Interaction and the Transformation of Visibility in a Mediated World.
Abstract: Preface. Introduction. 1. Communication and Social Context. 2. The Media and the Development of Modern Societies. 3. The Rise of Mediated Interaction. 4. The Transformation of Visibility. 5. The Globalization of Communication. 6. The Re--mooring of Tradition. 7. Self and Experience in a Mediated World. 8. The Re--invention of Publicness. Notes. Index.

1,780 citations