Research readings

Journal : Duke University Press (1990) Page: 56-80 Author: Nancy Fraser Context: Jurgen Habermas's work 'Structural Transformation of Public Sphere' is helpful in theorizing the limits of democracy in the late capitalist societies.   It countered the inability of progressive social movements (Socialist & Marxist traditions) to appreciate the distinction between state apparatus and public arenas of citizen discourse/association. It assumed that economic control to the socialist state means surrendering it to the socialist citizenry. The conflation of state and public sphere resulted in an authoritarian state, thereby jeopardizing the idea of socialist democracy.  The contemporary feminist discourse's use of 'public sphere' is also problematic as it is used to describe everything outside the domestic/family sphere. It conflates three distinct things - the state, the official economy of paid employment and arenas of public discourse. It creates political conseq...

Book: Habermas and the Public sphere (1992) Chapter: 1 - Introduction: Habermas and Public Sphere Author: Craig Calhoun Introduction The chapter explores the concepts discussed by Jurgen Habermas in his book 'The Structural Transformation of Public Sphere' published in 1962. It talks about the socio-historical conditions that gave rise to a bourgeois public sphere between 17th to 20th century and changes happened further.  It points to an institutional location where private individuals enaged in rational-critical (practical reason) debates on public affairs. Merit of the arguments and quantity of the participation determined decisions instead of the social status of the individuals.  Habermas's social theory moves from a Hegelian-Marxist orientation to a Kantian outlook. He critiques the bougeois society by highlighting its internal tensions, structural transformation and partial degeneration.  He also points to it's possible emancipatory potential to identify the trut...