Beyond Habermas : Democracy, Knowledge, and the Public Sphere

During the 1960s the German philosopher Jürgen Habermas introduced the notion of a 'bourgeois public sphere' in order to describe the symbolic arena of political life and conversation that originated with the cultural institutions of the early eighteenth-century; since then the 'public sphere' itself has become perhaps one of the most debated concepts at the very heart of modernity. For Habermas, the tension between the administrative power of the state, with its understanding of sovereignty, and the emerging institutions of the bourgeoisie-coffee houses, periodicals, encyclopedias, literary culture, etc.-was seen as being mediated by the public sphere, making it a symbolic site of public reasoning. This volume examines whether the 'public sphere' remains a central explanatory model in the social sciences, political theory, and the humanities.-- Provided by Publisher CONTENTS Beyond Habermas? PART I—PUBLIC OPINION IN THE DEMOCRATIC POLITY Chapter 1. Public Sphere and Political Experience Chapter 2. Public Opinion and the Public Sphere Chapter 3. The Tyranny of Majority Opinion in the Public Sphere PART II—KNOWLEDGE AND THE PUBLIC SPHERE Chapter 4. Epistemic Publics Chapter 5. The Public in Public Health Chapter 6. Geeks and Recursive Publics PART III—DEMOCRACY, PHILOSOPHY, AND GLOBAL PUBLICS Chapter 7. Mediating the Public Sphere Chapter 8. Critique of Public Reason Chapter 9. On the Global Multiplicity of Public Spheres Bibliography Notes on Contributors Index