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CHAPTER 2. THE PUBLIC SPHERE 32
of such an idealized public sphere is to allow citizens to formulate, understand and
comment on the public interest. For the citizens, the value of participating in the
public sphere is to provide meaning to political life, determine the public interest,
and filter alternative conceptions of the public good. Thus, the goal of discourse in
the idealized public sphere is understanding, and discussion in the public sphere
must move beyond articulation of interests, bargaining and persuasion.
In contrast, the vision of the liberal public sphere requires institutions which support
liberal political conversation, which is generally limited to discussion among
previously selected alternatives, and expression of private interests. The function
of a liberal public sphere is to allow citizens to ratify the range of alternatives
selected, and to select from within that range the option which best satisfies their
private interests. For the citizens, the value of participating in the public sphere
is to provide legitimacy to political life. Thus, the goal of discourse in the liberal
public sphere is decision, and discussion in the public sphere ought not move
beyond articulation of interests, bargaining and persuasion.
We have not yet taken on the task of specifying dimensions of the public sphere
that can be translated into measures allowing us to determine the goodness of fit
between an existing part of the public sphere and either the liberal or idealized
vision. This section proposes and explicates four such dimensions: equality, diversity,
reciprocity and quality. These dimensions are derived from the literature
cited above concerning the origins and definition of the public sphere.
In the public sphere, “no barriers to the participation of interested parties should
exist” (Dryzek 1990, 41). In this sense, we can think of Habermas’s (1992) contention
that the emerging public sphere represented a transformation in the mode
of exclusion of individuals from participating in the formation of the general will.
An essential aspect of the public sphere is the creation of opportunities for all persons
to participate in discussion (Post 1993). For a public institution to emerge, it
had to be dedicated to the principle (if not the practice) of “inclusivity,” of allowing
all persons to be able to participate. In this way, despite the relatively narrow
participation by ordinary people, Habermas (1989, 38) contends that the public
sphere – a transformative social category – arose in the early 18th century:
In relation to the mass of the rural population and the common ’people’
in the towns, of course, the public ’at large’ that was being formed was
still extremely small. Elementary education, where it existed, was inferior.
The proportion of illiterates, at least in Great Britain, even exceeded that of