The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere

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The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (edit title/settings)

An Inquiry into a Category of Bourgeois Society

by Jürgen Habermas (Author) (edit contributors)

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This is Jürgen Habermas's most concrete historical-sociological book and one of the key contributions to political thought in the postwar period. It will be a revelation to those who have known Habermas only through his theoretical writing to find his later interests in problems of... read more

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The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere is Habermas's examination of a kind of publicity that originated in the eighteenth century, but still has modern relevance. It begins by attempting to demarcate what Habermas calls the bourgeois public sphere. He defines the public sphere as the sphere of private people who join together to form a "public." He traces the history of the division between public and private in language and philosophy.
Before the bourgeois public sphere came representative publicity, which existed from the Middle Ages until the eighteenth century. It involved the king or 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.
Economic developments were vital in the evolution of the public sphere. Habermas emphasizes the role of capitalist modes of production, and of the long-distance trade in news and commodities in this evolution. The most important feature of the public sphere as it existed in the eighteenth century was the public use of reason in rational-critical debate. This checked domination by the state, or the illegitimate use of power. Rational-critical debate occurred within the bourgeois reading public, in response to literature, and in institutions such as salons and coffee-houses. Habermas sees the public sphere as developing out of the private institution of the family, and from what he calls the "literary public sphere", where discussion of art and literature became possible for the first time. The public sphere was by definition inclusive, but entry depended on one's education and qualification as a property owner. Habermas emphasizes the role of the public sphere as a way for civil society to articulate its interests.
The development of the fully political public sphere occurred first in Britain in the eighteenth century. The public sphere became institutionalized within the European bourgeois constitutional states of the nineteenth century, where public consensus was enshrined as a way of checking domination. The fully developed public sphere was therefore dependent on many social conditions, which eventually shifted.
Habermas argues that the self-intepretation of the public sphere took shape in the concept of "public opinion", which he considers in the light of the work of Kant, Marx, Hegel, Mill and Tocqueville. The bourgeois public sphere eventually eroded because of economic and structural changes. The boundaries between state and society blurred, leading to what Habermas calls the refeudalization of society. State and society became involved in each other's spheres; the private sphere collapsed into itself. The key feature of the public sphere - rational-critical debate - was replaced by leisure, and private people no longer existed as a public of property owners. Habermas argues that the world of the mass media is cheap and powerful. He says that it attempts to manipulate and create a public where none exists, and to manufacture consensus. This is particularly evident in modern politics, with the rise of new disciplines such as advertising and public relations. These, and large non- governmental organizations, replace the old institutions of the public sphere. The public sphere takes on a feudal aspect again, as politicians and organizations represent themselves before the voters. Public opinion is now manipulative, and, more rarely, still critical. We still need a strong public sphere to check domination by the state and non-governmental organizations. Habermas holds out some hope that power and domination may not be permanent features.

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“Although objectively greater demands are placed on <public opinion>, it operates less as a public opinion giving a rational foundation to the exercise of political and social authority, the more it is generated for the purpose of an abstract vote that amounts to no more than an act of acclamation within a public sphere temporarily manufactured for show or manipulation.”
Modern politics is a sham, according to Habermas.
“Representative publicity of the old type is not thereby revived; but it still lends certain traits to a refeudalized public sphere of civil society whose characteristic feature…is that the large-scale organizers in state and society "manage the propagation of their positions".”
Here, Habermas argues for the return of certain historical traits in modern society.
“The bourgeois public sphere may be conceived above all as the sphere of private people come together as a public.”
This is perhaps the most important quotation in the entire work, and sums up Habermas's idea of the public sphere concisely.
“This publicness of representation was not constituted as a social realm, that is, as a public sphere; rather, it was something like a status attribute, if this term may be permitted.”
This quote is Habermas's clearest explanation of the concept of representative publicity.
“This investigation aims to analyze the type "bourgeois public sphere". Its particular approach is required, to begin with, by the difficulties specific to an object whose complexity precludes exclusive reliance on the specialized methods of a single discipline.”
Here, Habermas explains his particular methodology, which he feels is justified by the unique nature of the concept he is studying.

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First Sentence edit see section history

The usage of the words "public" and "public sphere" betrays a multiplicity of concurrent meanings.

Glossary edit see section history

Bourgeois constitutional state: The bourgeois constitutional state is a nineteenth century invention, formed as an attempt to link the public sphere to an idea of law. It guarantees its citizens certain basic rights, which amount to establishing the public sphere as a public institution. The state does this in order to abolish the idea of the state as a dominating force by linking law to rational debate. The bourgeois state is not long-lived, however, as it depends on particular social and economic factors that are unique to the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Representative publicity: Representative publicity is the form of public sphere that preceded the literary public sphere. It operated in the feudal states of medieval and early modern Europe. Essentially, it consisted of the King or the nobility representing their political power before the people. They merely displayed their power; there was no political discussion, because there was no "public" in the modern sense. In order for political power to exist at all, an audience was required. Habermas sees elements of this style of publicity returning in the behavior of modern political parties and public relations experts.
Refeudalization: A process that Habermas identifies in modern social-democratic states. Refeudalization involves a merging of the state and society, public and private that approximates to conditions in the feudal state, and a return of elements of representative publicity. Habermas does not believe that modern states are returning to the Middle Ages, merely that certain feudal elements are returning.
Rational-critical debate: The lifeblood of the public sphere. Rational-critical debate occurred in the eighteenth century public sphere between members of a property-owning, educated reading public using their reason. It centered first on literary questions, then on political issues. One of Habermas's criticisms of the modern state is the decline of rational, meaningful argument.
Political public sphere: The political public sphere represents private people who have come together as a public to use their reason critically. It is not so much a place as a series of actions. It developed out of the literary public sphere, and depended on private people's status as both property owners and human beings; its roots were in the family and in the world of property ownership. In the past, the political public sphere represented a critical voice that analysed and often opposed government action, and prevented domination by the powerful state. In its modern form, however, the public sphere is no more than a manipulative form of publicity, as politicians, advertising agents and public relations experts try to create and manipulate a false public.
Literary public sphere: The literary public sphere develops in the eighteenth century; its key institutions are literary journals, periodicals, and the coffee houses and salons where these publications were discussed. The literary public sphere represented the first time that the public could critically discuss art and literature, drawing on the emotional resources they developed within the family. It developed into the political public sphere.

Authors & Contributors edit see section history

Jürgen Habermas (Author)

Classification edit see section history

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Dewey: 305

Subjects edit see section history

Books › Nonfiction › Social Sciences › Sociology
Books › Nonfiction › Philosophy

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