THE INTERNATIONAL PEN

The public sphere is an important concept in democracy. Habermas introduced the concept of a public sphere into sociology and cultural studies, and many other scholars have further discussed this theory, such as Dan Laughey and Herman& Chomsky. This is because the role of public sphere is meant to be very influential in societies and this theory could be extended with other social phenomena. To get an understanding of the public sphere itself, Habermas’ original definition in this journal is recommended.

 

Habermas clearly outlines an overall history and development of the public sphere alongside the transformation of societies throughout time from the 18th century up until the article was written. This article is very good in terms of its structure. It starts from a definition of a public sphere then the history, and a subtle connection between paragraphs to the liberal phrase of the public sphere. It allows readers to get an overview of its development as this theory was written in a chronological order. His division of the article into three parts with annotations allows readers to skim important part for referencing, if one needs to refer to the definition, he could skip the rest of the article.

 

Briefly, the public sphere is a place for ordinary people to get together to discuss about the politics, and to raise issues concerning about societies, it has the function to promote, to represent the public and to make political influences to the governments. He distinguishes people into a number of categories, explained the relationship between general public, namely ordinary people and the power. In terms of power, he divides the elites, institutions and different classes of people into a number of categories to illustrate how these people construct, involve and alter the public sphere. It is particularly valuable to illustrate what constitute and why the public sphere is weakening now with the influences of power and the media. He also mentioned some constraints these parties face, such as the transformation of churches. Although in his notion, the public sphere should bring positive impacts to societies, he also mentioned the shortcoming for instance the public sphere has to be effective when political control subordinates the sphere. His references to other thinkers also consolidate his finding especially examining the power relations. Referring to Karl Bucher in his arguments also makes it more perusable. However, more references regarding power relations might support his theory in a more valid way.

 

The shortcoming of his article is that he focuses too much on the issues relating the public sphere; it actually lacks some practical examples of the public sphere and any influences it has made as an instance. He has not talked much about the internal function of the public sphere. Thus, this article remains at a relatively theoretical level. Also, although it has mentioned many other parties within the realm of the public sphere and the related associations, it did not show a very clear and direct relationship with the functions of the public sphere, some explanations are vague and could further discussed more. For instance, it has mentioned the threats posed to the public sphere, such as the propaganda model, but it did not explain how it in fact has weakened the public sphere.

 

This article was written in 1964, it is important to note that his research could only be up to date upon that time, so he apparently could not address recent issues like new media, which affects the public sphere. Rapid changes occurring in the recent decades violently alter the public sphere. Some other scholars have referred to it and discussed it at more great depth. Habermas later on also supplemented updated version for the public sphere but arose more critics about the pessimistic view of the public sphere in those copies.

 

In short, it is an essential article to understand what a public sphere is, especially its history, but some further readings are needed to get an in-depth and up dated knowledge regarding contemporary issues, like the rise of digital communication, in transforming the public sphere.

 

 

Reference: Habermas, Jürgen. Lennox, Sara. Lennox, Frank.(1974) ‘The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article (1964)’ New German Critique. No. 3. (Autumn)P. 49-55.