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Introduction
Habermas Jurgen’s ‘Social Structures of the Public Sphere’, is an immensely rich book that has had a major influence in a variety of disciplines. This book has received a detailed critique and became a basic tool for the productive and intellectual debate of cultural transformation, civil society and private and public life, and social changes and transformation in the twentieth century. It will help to provide new insight into public relations practices can be gained.
Critical Review on the Social Structure of Public Sphere
After the development of a fully political public sphere occurred in Britain in the eighteenth century, it became institutionalized within the European bourgeois constitutional states of the nineteenth century, where public consensus was enshrined as a way of checking domination.
The Bourgeois simply referred to those who are dwellers of urban areas. At the beginning of the 11th centuries Central and Western Europe mainly referred to this category as property wing class or merchant and traders. Later these groups have emerged against the natural rights of the nobles and prelates. During the period of the Industrial revolution Bourgeois turned into different categories depending on their economic development like high bourgeois for industrial bankers and petty bourgeois transmitted depended on white collars jobs. There is always upward and downward mobility among these groups and the positions become divided into market-centered. In France and Spain these groups are dishonorable profession because they move to the lifestyle of land, office holding and hard workers for their future generation. Hence, they become the group of status seeking encompasses of all white collar jobs.
In this book he tries to draw a picture of Bourgeois society and its history, with a special focus on the Public and private life of the 18th and 19th Century. The Author mainly divides the portions (Jurgen, Habermas. 1989, p.27 -45). based on the life of Public sphere Bourgeois society, Institutional approach of Bourgeois society and its growth in the 20th Century, especially Germany, England.
The Author Defines the public Sphere as a Bourgeois as the sphere of private people come together as into public to privatize but the publicly relevant sphere of commodity exchange and social labor. Mainly the civil society is engaged in commodity exchange and social labor And Conjugal Families acted as an internal Sphere. He describes it existed in behind closed doors. Then the author remarks about the institutionalized Public spheres in Salons, Coffee House etc. They followed certain styles in their proceedings, Climate of Debate and topical orientation. They mainly discussed common concerns of and local issues without economical and social disparities.
It becomes evident that the Author excluded some of the groups of Institutional based Public forums of rational discussion. While the concept of the public sphere and democracy assume liberalization, discussion, and critical consciousness from a clear analysis it is it becomes evident that the bourgeois public sphere was dominated by white, and purchasing power of Land of the Males.
In his books, the author indicates that women do have not too much role in the Salon and coffee house centered public sphere. So it is clear that the Bourgeois public sphere is encompassed by white collars and market centered people and has not taken a serious concern of the voice and representation of Women. So in his work he has not given too much emphasis on the reforms and Improvement of education of women in Western Countries in the 20th Century which are vital for Women’s public sphere.
Then he remarks about the Theatre, printed letters and other audio aids for the growth of the public Sphere. The author says about the importance of Music and the emergence of Occupational groups based on Music etc. (Jurgen, 1989, p.41). He pointed out that Craftsmanship was the State Monopoly and it is viewed and participated only by the elite group of the Society. Then he describes how the ‘Art Criticism’ impacted the Public Sphere. He describes it as a new occupation group Known by Art Critic (Kunstrichter). They acted as spoke men for the public. In that period there are a lot of Hand Witten materials, Printed weeklies and Moral weeklies which were acted as a publicity instrument for art criticism. Consequently, Habermas made his institutional turn into linguistic and shifted to communication aids.
The later part of his work explains the internal public sphere and Home Building styles in Britain and a concept called Whole House. I.e it ensures the participation of whole members of the family. He finally concludes that more of a home for each rather than the whole family. As a result Left less room for the family as a ‘whole’
Despite the limitations of his analysis, Habermas is right that in the era of the democratic revolutions a public sphere emerged in which for the first time in history ordinary people will be imparted with the power of participation, a common platform for debate and energy for the fight against the unjustice existed in their country. Finally, it resulted in a social transformation, and that this sphere was institutionalized, however imperfectly, in later developments of Western societies
In short, he describes a transition from the liberal public sphere which originated in the Enlightenment and the American and French Revolution to a media-dominated public sphere in the post-colonial system.
‘Social Structures of the Public Sphere’ and Today’s Global privatized World
Habermas ‘Public Sphere’ has a great relevant in the post modern era. Habermas sphere of public debate has a limited individual participation but now it transmitted into a realm of political information and consumerist society. The acceleration of economic and emergence as well as development of Information technology and Mass media redefine the public Sphere. The cyber space expanded the public sphere and helps to face to face interaction in an around the world. Early years of Mass Media development Radio, Tele vision and electronic media played important role for the integration and participation of the Individuals in the Public Sphere. It helped the people to get Information, Education and communication of their contemporary society. How ever the rise of the Internet drastically changed the concept of the public sphere. It has promoted a media culture which depend the future democracy of the Western Countries.
The growth and development of Non- Governmental Organization (NGOs) has been played a vital role in the formation of social sphere.They acted as a mediator between general public and Authorities. They planned strategies and programme to fill the gap between civil society and the state. It always has an important role in dissemination, sensitization, empowerment and promotion of Right Based Approach.
But at present, the politicians and NGOs face the voters with replacement of old public Sphere. The proliferation of Technological revolution has raised several new challenges and threads s to the contemporary society. It will constitute a new public sphere which will be mass media dominated and a society of individuality. It will help to the Global restoration of Capitalism and consumerism. Bourgeois is got another notation “Abuse “.Because of these we have built a vibrant consumer society not grounded in the widespread access of fundamental quality of life improvers. Because of this the role, the accountability and integrity of Non –Governmental Organizations all will be a questioning factor.
In conclusion, the unplanned and unchecked development in the public sphere will act as a destructive force against the integrity and envision Habermas’s Public Social Sphere concept.
In Habermas’s words: “Inasmuch as the mass media today strip away the literary husks from the kind of bourgeois self-interpretation and utilize them as marketable forms for the public services provided in a culture of consumers, the original meaning is reversed (1989a: 171). ‘ nt era of what he calls “welfare state capitalism and mass democracy.”
References
- Jurgen, Habermas. (1989). Social Structures of the Public Sphere. p.41.
- Jurgen, Habermas. (1989). Social Structures of the Public Sphere ‘Social Structures of the Public Sphere’, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge Mass: The MIT Press, pp.27-56.
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