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CHAPTER 2. THE PUBLIC SPHERE 16 arenas. As such, it is in some way analogous to a physical place. Second, the public sphere is created, or brought into being, by its members or participants; it is not a place created by others to which members go. And third, the public sphere requires interaction among the members, and this interaction requires members to make use of their discursive abilities. At the same time, it should be made clear that not all discourse is to be considered part of the public sphere. This is not to say that all discourse is not political; it is clear that language use and construction reflects a social and political structure, and that all discourse thus has a political character (Corcoran 1990). Rather, the distinction to be made here is between discourse that contributes to the public sphere, and discourse which is confined to either the governmental (or state) sphere, on the one hand, or the market or intimate realms of the private sphere, on the other. Pitkin (1972, 204) distinguishes four regions of discourse: philosophical, moral, scientific and political: Political discourse is surely not personal dialogue among two or a very few persons directly affected by an action one of them took. . . . [P]olitical questions [are] of larger scope and scale, addressed to a larger audience, cast in a more general and impersonal mode. Unlike moral dialogue, political discourse is characteristically public speech, both with respect to its participants and with respect to its subject matter . . . There is no such thing as private politics, intimate politics. Using Pitkin’s model, a discourse can be considered political if its content is addressed to questions of large scope and scale, if its participants address larger audiences than themselves, and if the participants cast their discussion in a general and impersonal mode. The defining characteristic of political discourse is its publicness: Other regions of discourse do exist and have an impact upon individuals, collectively and publicly. But they are not characteristically and necessarily public; indeed the opposite is true. (Pitkin 1972, 72). The importance of audience is underscored by Gamson (1992), who notes how the awareness of audience transforms sociable interaction into what he terms “sociable public discourse.”
CHAPTER 2. THE PUBLIC SPHERE 17 Scholarly debate on and discussion about the concept of the public sphere has been reinvigorated since the publication of Habermas’s Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1989). First published in German in 1961, it was not translated into English until 1989 (a French translation was published in 1978), perhaps delaying by nearly 30 years the expansive use of this concept in studies of the American political and social context. It is not surprising that there is considerable ferment among scholars concerning the conceptualization of this notion. Habermas suggests that a useful distinction can be drawn between the “idealized” and the “degenerate” or liberal public sphere, a bifurcation which closely follows the divisions offered in democratic theory. The remainder of this chapter discusses the two visions of the public sphere: The idealized vision views the public sphere as a means for private individuals to discover the interests they have in common, and to communicate these interests to the state. The liberal vision suggests that the function of the public sphere it to provide legitimacy to both state and private market actions. 2.2 The Idealized Public Sphere The idealized vision of the public sphere is one in which all members of a polity, as independent and private citizens, have an opportunity to participate in rationalcritical debate of topics relevant to their public lives. These debates and deliberations result in consensus among the members of a public on those actions for which it is necessary for the state to engage, and produce a sense of democracy among the participants in the public discussion. Public authorities respond by enacting this consensus into law. This section examines the emergence of the public sphere (Section 2.2.1), its functions (Section 2.2.2 on page 20) and the factors leading to its collapse (Section 2.2.3 on page 24). 2.2.1 The Emergence of the Idealized Public Sphere Habermas (1989) suggests that the idealized public sphere emerged in the late Enlightenment period as a result of four factors:
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Chapter 5 Measuring the Public Sphe
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CHAPTER 5. MEASURING THE PUBLIC SPH
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CHAPTER 6. ANALYZING THE TALK.ABORT
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Chapter 7 The Expanding Public Sphe
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CHAPTER 7. THE EXPANDING PUBLIC SPH
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CHAPTER 7. THE EXPANDING PUBLIC SPH
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Appendix A The talk.abortion newsgr
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APPENDIX A. TALK.ABORTION: AUGUST 9
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Appendix B Density Scores Table B.1
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APPENDIX B. DENSITY SCORES 165 Tabl
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Appendix C Supplemental Analysis 16
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APPENDIX C. SUPPLEMENTAL ANALYSIS 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 177 Best, Michael L. 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 179 Fisher, Bonnie, Mi
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 181 Hiltz, Starr Roxan
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 183 Mansbridge, Jane.
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 185 Pateman, Carole. 1
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 187 Savicki, Victor, D
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BIBLIOGRAPHY 189 U. S. Congress, Of
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