Public sphere

Victor Kempf, Martin Seeliger and Sebastian Sevignani

Chapter 17 in Research Handbook on Critical Theory, 2026, pp 190-202 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: In critical theory, the public sphere is viewed from an ideology-critical perspective. According to Marx, the bourgeois public sphere's ideological nature is evident in its abstraction from the material realm of labour. From a Habermasian perspective, social group and content exclusions that distort public communication are examined, rendering it ideological. This chapter outlines different strands of critical puplic sphere theory and poses empirical questions about its globalisation, commodification, digitalisation and fragmentation in the contemporary era. The chapter focuses particularly on the social conflicts surrounding the exclusionary nature of the public sphere in its hegemonic form, a topic that Habermas himself largely neglects. Habermas is preoccupied with the colonisation of the lifeworld by economic and administrative systems and thus loses sight of the struggles within the lifeworld over the constitution and delimitation of the proper public sphere.

Keywords: Public Sphere; Communication; Democracy; Habermas; Gramsci; Fraser (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781800373754
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