Week4-The Political Public Sphere

The relationship of society and democracy is embodied in the political public sphere. As the public sphere emerged, it played a critical role in history in bringing about social change and in shaping democracy. The interplay of economic forces, communication, and key social foundations drew private people together as a public. This emerging public used what they had learned within their private sphere, such as its decision making process and the use of discussion, for political confrontation. As the scope and reach of the public sphere broadened beyond the educated, property owner, these social foundations deteriorated and its function weakened as public opinion was no longer unified and unambiguous and was only one power among other powers.
Habermas proposed the public sphere as an ideal political framework in which rational discussion and reasoned action brought about meaningful social change. The public sphere evolved into public opinion which “put the state in touch with the needs of society.” Public opinion was shaped by rational, critical political debate that was characterized by both the quality of the discourse and the quantity of participation. Publicity became” whatever attracts public opinion” such as legislative debate, which should be to inform public opinion (Habermas, p.3). His definition and discussion of what is public opinion and publicity help clarify and frame the discussion today of the role of the public in the political process and, perhaps, how the political public sphere can be reclaimed.
Habermas held that critical, rational dialogue of the political public sphere was needed for democracy to survive. Yet the two tendencies that he identified as undermining the public sphere – too much publicity which is eroding privacy rights and “secrecy in areas hitherto considered public” (p.140) seem to define today’s political public sphere. The debate continues today on what should be the role of public opinion in the political process, whether it is still relevant to the political function. Politicians today are accused of both reacting too quickly to the ebb and flow of public opinion, which is often formed without any debate in either the public or legislature and of also trying to shape public debate through the control of messages and symbols. Perhaps public opinion has become what Marx called it, “false consciousness” and the “mask of bourgeois class interest” (Habermas, p.124).
Habermas has an almost idealized view of the emergence of the political public sphere and its reshaping of governments and society. He credits the values and skills used within the private sphere of discussion as compromise and being used by private persons as they evolved into the public sphere. Habermas appears to have a belief in the innate goodness of mankind and that the broadening of the public sphere to include such segments of society as the working class, came about because it was the just and right thing to do. When in reality there were stronger economic reasons for this development. As Marx pointed out, the bourgeois public sphere was not that anxious to give up legislative power to the “mass of nonowners.” In his historical review, Habermas glossed over the violent uprising of the labor movement and other groups, which also drove this shift in power and public opinion.
The interplay of public opinion and publicity, on the part of legislators and those in authority, continues today, but not in the form of critical, rational dialogue that Habermas identified as the basis for democracy. Today’s political public sphere more closely resembles theater in which the politicians put on a show and the public, acting as an audience, shows its approval or disapproval of their performance through responses to public opinion polls. Habermas provides historical insights on how to either reengage the public or to recognize the emergence of a new form of the political public sphere. Habermas saw the press, a new and emerging medium, as a facilitator in the evolution of the political public sphere. The traffic in commerce and news developed together and formed invaluable communication network. New media, such as the internet, have also been identified as powerful drivers of a new form of global commerce and have also provided indications of placing the power for social change back into the hands of the public sphere. Perhaps this new media will again facilitate rational, critical political debate and foster the emergence of democracy worldwide.