The Public Sphere

The Public Sphere

1. Habermas

   • public shpere is a realm of social life where public opinion can be formed (by individuals who share ideas on a matter of consequence to everyone
   • starts with a common texts people refer to (cafe society)
   • these discussions become a literary public sphere, which leads to a bougiouse public sphere
   • conversations lead to opinions and the the state has to do something about it
   • made up conversation (communication) which means it contains rhetoric
   • his model is normative - "ideal version" (relational, literate people)
   • Descriptive
     • describes, example: (USA has terror in the world, failing education system and failing health care system that we have to deal with
   • Normative
     • Identifying the norms and ideals with enduring value Example: we as American want freedom, so if we that we can't deal with terrorism by surveying all Muslims because that violates their freedom. BUT if we could identify our norm as something else (keep people secure) then we could survey all Muslims
   • Criticisms of Habermas
     • his model excludes a lot of people - too monolithic
     • rational
     • people say his standard of relational discourse isn't right because emotional discourses are valuable also - say it's too idealistic and exclusive. They want something that is more open and acceptable.

2. Hauser

   • A public sphere may be defined as discursive space in which individuals and groups associate to discuss matters of mutual interest and where possible to reach a common judgement about them. It is focus on rhetorically salient meanings
   • RHETORICAL MODEL
     • 1. Based on Discourse
     • 2. critical norms derive from actual discursive practice
     • 3. Indeterminate bracketing of discursive exchanges
       • local associates spaces
       • larger, polyphonic exchanges
       • dialogue, multi dialogue
     • 4. Values communication conductive to forming shared judgements
   • Reticulate Model
     • Parts: indeterminate bracketing of discursive exchanges
     • bracketing : important bc different concepts are bracketed under umbrella of topic (EX: pope- conversations about the Pope - lead to other conversations - spiral off of each other
     • Spiral off of each other (lava lamp example: public sphere is a theoretical realm of how these ideas/ conversations go about
     • ideas/ conversations go about (spread throughout media)
     • Permeable Boundaries: local and global issues, related and unrelated parts
     • Activity: engaged in discussing issues
     • Contextualized Language: specificity of issues requires adherence to rhetorical norms
     • Believable Appearance: participatory framework with ideals and values
     • Tolerance: acceptance of diverse perspectives

3. Warner

   • The 7 Characteristics of public Spheres
     • 1. A public is self-organized
       • a space of discourse organized by discourse; it exists by virtue of being addressed; chicken-egg circulatory; must be self-organized by discourse (and not an external source) to the meaningful
     • 2. a public is a relation among strangers
       • reaching strangers is its primary orientation; strangers already being to our world; not just people does not know; environment
     • 3. The address of public speech is both personal and imp[ersonal
       • we are strangers until we are addressed; public speech must be taken as addressed to us and addressed to strangers; our subjectivity resonates with others but only insofar as we understand ourselves as strangers when we're addressed; a venue of indefinite address in which we hope that people will find themselves
     • 7. A public is a poetic world making
       • public discourse risk the condition of its possibility by addressing strangers; there is no public that does not try in advance to specify the lifeworld of its circulation; public discourse says not only, let a public exist, but let it have this character, speak this way, see the world this way.
     • 6. Publics act historically according to the temporary of the their circulation
       • Punctual time of circulation is crucial; not timeless, not without issue; a public can only act in the temporality of the circulation that give its exigence
     • 5. A public is the social place created by the reflexive circulation of discourse
       • this is a common assumption of the public; no single text can create a public (it is more than just a speech given to an audience); Public is an ongoing space of encounter for discourse; "only" when a previously existing discourse can be supposed and when a responding discourse can be postulated, can a text address the bublic
     • 4. A public is constituted through mere attention
       • attention is the principle sorting category by which members and nonmembers are discriminated; Just by coming into range you fulfill the only entry
   • Counterpublics
     • do no frame their address as the universal discussion of the peopke
     • members are not just subsets of the public but constituted through a conflictual relationship to the dominant public
     • subalterns with a reform program
     • comes into being through an address to indefinite strangers - but addresses those strangers as not just anybody
   • The Public
     • a kind of social totality (the people)
   • A Public
     • a concrete audience, crowd (theater) being addressed while being around strangers.