Kleanthis Sotiriou,Public sphere

1. Kleanthis Sotiriou J.Habermas and the Public Sphere

2. A few words about J.Habermas Jürgen Habermas was born in Düsseldorf, Germany, in 1929. He had served in the Hitler Youth and had been sent to defend the western front during the final months of the war. Habermas' entrance onto the intellectual scene began in the 1950's with an influential critique of Martin Heidegger's philosophy.

3. A few words about J.Habermas He studied philosophy at Universities in Göttingen and Bonn, which he followed with studies in philosophy and sociology at the Institute for Social Research under Max Horkheimer and Theodor Adorno. In the 1960's and 70's he taught at the University of Heidelberg and Frankfurt am Main. He then accepted a directorship at the Max Planck Institute in Starnberg in 1971. In 1980 he won the Adorno Prize, and two years later he took a professorship at the University of Frankfurt, remaining there until his retirement in 1994.

4. The Public sphere Public Sphere = Public Opinion The realm of our social life from which ‘Public Opinion Emerge’. Civic space in which private citizens could meet to discuss matters of political importance.

5. Conditions for the Public Sphere Free from the influences of : -The market Place -The State -The Family Public Sphere = Public Opinion ‘The critical state of democracy can be measured by taking the pulse of the life of its political public sphere’(Habermas,2004)

6. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere Habermas made a distinction between lifeworld and system. The public sphere is an extension of the lifeworld in many respects; system refers to the market economy and the state apparatus. The lifeworld is the immediate milieu of the individual social actor, and Habermas opposed any analysis which uncoupled the interdependence of the lifeworld and the system in the negotiation of political power.

7. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere A public sphere began to emerge in the 18th C. through the growth of coffee houses, literary and other societies, voluntary associations, and the growth of the press. In their efforts to discipline the state, parliament and other agencies of representative government sought to manage this public sphere.

8. The success of the public sphere depends upon: the extent of access (as close to universal as possible), the degree of autonomy (the citizens must be free of coercion), the rejection of hierarchy (so that each might participate on an equal footing), the rule of law (particularly the subordination of the state), and the quality of participation (the common commitment to the ways of logic).

9. Public Sphere Now, we have a re-feudalised public sphere (i.e. left with the mass media and its power relations) No independence-corrupted by : Ownership and control of the media industry Advertising revenues Public relations and ‘spin culture’

10. Types of news Coverage There is a greater emphasis on evaluation and comment when an issue falls within the remit of a public sphere -i.e. On matters in which the public should be informed, the press serves as a means by which important issues are highlighted.

11. Public and Private The public and Private spheres are featured as dual environments of a common lifeworld which are symbolically reproduced through everyday communication for the purposes of cultural reproduction, social integration, and socialization. (Habermas,1984 :1987)

12. The role of Mass Media “Habermas is still suspicious of the role of mass media insofar as these institutions may be used with the intention to control public opinion and legitimate government policy.” (G.Thomas Goodnight p 251,p 3)

13. Conclusion In my opinion at the present time there are many ways which Public sphere can be spread (not just the coffee houses).Social media tools such as : Facebook, MySpace, etc are the most effective ways which emerge in public sphere. Habermas theory of “rationalization” is still effective according to my belief by taking the public unprepared so they would not have time to processes that kind of information.

14. References : http://www.egs.edu/library/juergen-habermas/biography/access 10.2.2011 http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/habermas/access 10.2.2011 https://www.msu.edu/~robins11/habermas/main.html access 10.2.2011 http://publicsphere.ssrc.org/guide/ access 10.2.2011 www.katelundy.com.au/category/campaigns/publicsphere/ access 12.2.2011 www.sparknotes.com/philosophy/public/summary.html access 12.2.2011 Habermas, Jürgen. The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere: An Inquiry into a category of Bourgeois Society. Trans. Thomas Burger with Frederick Lawrence. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1991. "Further Reflections on the Public Sphere. In Habermas and the Public Sphere. Ed. Craig Calhoun. Trans. Thomas Burger. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1992.