Jürgen Habermas, The Public Sphere: An Encyclopedia Article (1964)

Public sphere is an area in our social life in which people’s opinion can be formed. It may be an outlet for people to express concern, ideate, and analyze social situations. Of these outlets, newspapers, magazines, radio and television are today’s examples. The concept of the public sphere came into being in the late eras of the bourgeois society, and is not a direct relation to a democratic society.


Image Courtesy of Rice University

The individuals of the public sphere did not go against the authorities of the public sphere for power, but rather expressing their opinions on how the authority would use their power. This division of power was seen as a negotiation in the historical context – between the nobility, monarchy and people.

Recently, the public sphere has been given too much power, as private affairs are unnecessarily voiced in the public sphere. Media is giving the individuals an easy way of expressing their views to the public, and therefore giving the power to the people over the state. Private issues encroaching into public realm is not always a benefit to society, and thus brings a power struggle to heads of state.

I believe that the power of the people’s voice is in today’s society is one that is the most powerful, and should have a large influence on the government, especially in a democratic society. People who want to raise their concern for certain social issues. Are we too powerful for our own good? I believe that to be walking a fine line between voicing private issues that the general public doesn’t want to hear, and voicing public opinions so that the governing body can take notice.

That video we watched of the German artist (his name escapes me), creating the video projections of people’s faces and hands onto buildings was a little unnecessary, in my opinion. I highly doubt that people would want to hear about someone’s physical abuse or their private issues in a public setting, it is a bit too shocking for any stranger to accept, or to deal with. There are social support groups for that, and even community churches and prayer groups. Bringing an exceedingly personal situation / issue / problem into the public sphere is rather disturbing and is counter-intuitive to the original intention.

I suppose on a lighter note, You Tube is a perfect example of the public sphere. It allows any individual to create their own videos, and express their views for other’s to see and to comment.

– Stephen