So I thought Adorno was tough last week but this week, we're asked to read Habermas. Now once again he isn't someone new to me. The public sphere is something that has been discussed before in my academic career but it's not something I've fully understood. Below is the definition of the public sphere that I have created after reading both the Habermas and Fraser Articles.

The public sphere allows private citizens to come together to discuss matters of common concern which than become part of the public opinion. Much of this talk has to do with the policies and activities of private governing institutions who process some kind of control over the public. This type of arena facilitates argument and provides a place for social interaction. The public sphere is a place created by discourse. In does not exist in any physical state but instead exists in a metaphorical sense.

It allowed people to discuss their ideas in a free and open way for the first time and became a crucial force in both the American and French Revolutions. This is where print became particularly important as a way to spread political discourses. People seized news papers and used them as political tools. Newspapers changed from being institutions that dilervered news to leaders of public opinion. This state was short lived, as the news papers moved to become more about consumer interests and the selling of ad space.

Personally I think it's be interesting to hear Habermas discuss the internet in terms of the public sphere. Although it does serve as a vehicle in which people are able to discuss political ideas it's be hard to say that it expresses public opinion. These discussions are usually fairly limited as people are keen to look up only information that they are already comfortable with. So if you are into communist politics you are not going to search for something on the opposite end of the scale and if you do it is most likely to end up in a flaming war, not coming to any concrete solution.

Also the public sphere is meant as something that brings people together. But to me the internet is something that is increasingly keeping people apart. Because of the internet I have had the opportunity to keep in touch with I would say about half of my graduating high school class, through blogs , facebook and other social networking software I have been able to keep tabs on these peoples lives with out ever needing to have a conversation with them. But I only am able to see what they want me to see. I can only see them as they exist online in a world of their own creation. How do I know that person really exists and isn't just a projection of who would like to be rather than who they really are.