The concept of public domain can be traced back to Hannah Arendt's "public space", and Habermas extended and developed it on this basis. The field of public affairs has undergone two transformations: the first was from the autocracy of the feudal monarchs to the public space of bourgeois freedom, and the second was from the bourgeois public space to the welfare state in modern mass society, prompting The "re-feudalization" of the public domain means that the state and society continue to invade the public domain, leading to a decline in the democratic function of the mass media.
Different social outlooks and historical choices show many paths to democracy, and the "public domain" is the unavoidable center point of these paths. In the 18th century Europe, a set of management models were developed to regulate public affairs by promoting extensive public discussion. The public subjects participating in the discussion were not determined by their social status and traditional authority, but came from different social backgrounds. The free gathering of people, and at the same time, rational thinking and expression enhance the initiative of the subject in the communication process.
In the highly developed ancient Greek city-states, the public domain refers to the city-state and its public life with political life as its essential content. This kind of public life mainly takes place in the square and is based on dialogue (discussion/litigation) and practice (war/athletic activities). There is a clear distinction between the public domain (koine) owned by free people (except slaves, women, foreigners, etc.) and the private domain (idia) unique to each person. The desire to make a living and the acquisition of life necessities occur in the private realm (Oikos), while the public realm (Polis) provides a broad space for individual expression. All activities that only serve to make a living or maintain life processes are not allowed to enter. Public domain.
Habermas's work "The Structural Transformation of the Public Domain" focuses on the ability of modern citizens to continuously achieve autonomy based on open and intellectual discussions, because this ability demonstrates A hopeful form of democratic politics, the "bourgeois public sphere", refers to the field in social life where public opinions are formed. This field is where people discuss public affairs. , debate, exchange opinions, and ultimately promote the formation of public opinion. It can be a venue for people's daily gatherings, and it can also become a communication platform for them to express their views and receive information. Such free flow of information, language expression, and debate are necessary conditions for the occurrence of public affairs. The ideal public domain should be one of true citizen participation and effective isolation from abuse of power.
In the feudal society of the middle Middle Ages, there was no opposition model between the "public domain" and the "private domain" in the classical (or modern) sense, that is, the public domain as a person and the private domain. There are no special areas of phase separation. The king and his symbols of power (ownership) are a public form of representation, which Habermas calls the representative public sphere. This is rather a sign of status, because it is not organized at an institutional level. of.
Before elaborating on the structural transformation of the public sphere, Habermas first elaborated on the cultural origins of the bourgeois public sphere. He mainly draws on Arendt's point of view: the concept of "publicity" originated from the life of ancient Greek city-states. The public space where politics is discussed is a place where logos transcend material life - it is the opposite of family, It is the opposite of man's existence as a productive creature. Man's role in the family is only to obey the inevitability of nature, while the head of the family supported by women and slaves can transcend this low-level interest in preserving life and turn to others. Exploring issues of justice and truth - the so-called "citizen life", "public space" and the "politics" in human nature, is where the discussion takes place. On the other hand, "public nature" is the concept of "society" - the "civil society" formed in modern times refers to a private domain that is demarcated or not subject to public power, and on the other hand, it refers to In the process of life, he crosses the boundaries of personal family and pays attention to public affairs.
Such a public domain is not static. It will continue to transform with the development of bourgeois society.
In the beginning, it was an aristocratic and representative public domain. Feudal society was a privileged status society. The lifestyles of various classes were very different. The nobles had a lot of leisure time to carry out various activities. This kind of communication activity is based on the privilege of a specific identity. It is a representative public domain and a sign of status. However, this kind of activity is more of a show-off and a ritual. performance without substantive content. Later, as a large number of merchants engaged in overseas trade and made a lot of money, they became the nouveau riche. As they were constantly ostracized by the nobles, they created their own public domain. These newly wealthy people started their own gatherings, and businessmen opened their own cafes one after another, gathering the emerging bourgeoisie and intellectuals to exchange business information, read novels, write literary reviews, and share and disseminate together to form a social network. The formation of the early bourgeois public domain. At this time, the first transformation of the bourgeois public domain occurred, that is, the transformation of the aristocratic and representative public domain into the democratic public domain. During this period, literary works played a huge role. It penetrated social classes and was a concept that transcended the privileges of class differentiation. It could further break down the hierarchy of identities and return to an understanding based on human nature. In the process of the development of the public domain of literature, literature has been attached with a political image, and the country has also transformed from the divine right of kings to the sovereignty of the people. The bourgeois public domain was actually born out of the binary opposition between civil society and the political state.
Rousseau believed that people can enter public life freely and equally, but this freedom and equality are both abstract and have certain limitations. They will be restricted by property, education and gender. Completely equal. After this issue was raised, coupled with the birth of the welfare state, a second transformation occurred. That is to say, with the birth of the welfare state, people at the bottom of society have involved the state in political life through the popular political process. In order to maintain society, the state uses the welfare state to compensate civilians and protect the weak. At this time, the binary opposition between civil society and the political state is broken, and state socialization will occur. The state will be responsible for managing affairs from the cradle to the grave. This will also lead to the nationalization of society. More and more people The public can participate in public life, and the critical reading of intellectuals has turned into commodity consumption. Some public organizations feel that the media industry is profitable, and they enter the public sector to cater to public tastes, and vulgar news products become The government will begin to appear, and the public sector will gradually decline. In addition, the government feels that the public sector can be used, and they also potentially use their power to use the media to push the people to do what the government wants to do. Such a profound change has taken place in the public domain, and the public domain has completely become an arena of interests and an arena of power. The early public sphere was based on differences from the private sphere but mutual influence. With the emergence of the welfare state, the advent of mass society, and the emergence of mass media such as television, consumerist media mania Indiscriminate propaganda has completely broken this distinction, and the boundaries between the public and private spheres are no longer clear.
With the development of society, the structure of the public sector will also face a third transformation. That is to say, the continuous development of the economy and the expansion of economic transactions have created a huge economic system, which is beyond the control of the living world and has become a powerful alienating force. On the other hand, the political state has become a huge bureaucratic system, reducing living things to quantitative indicators and becoming a force of alienation. The binary opposition between civil society and the state has evolved into the relationship between the system and the living world.
The social system is mainly composed of three parts: material resources in the external natural or non-human environment; other social systems involved in society; and internal nature or the organic basis of social members. The concept of “system” has two meanings for Habermas. One is that it affects human life as a social system or organization. The complexity of modern social structures makes it impossible for humans to clearly know the reasons for each of their actions and their possible consequences, and the system has the function of regulating the interaction of human actions. The life world regulates interpersonal activities at the value level, while the system regulates the lifestyle and orientation of different human goals from the functional level. Another meaning is as an analytical framework for the social world, which means that researchers adopt the objective perspective of an observer to analyze and understand social phenomena.
One of the main causes of the predicament of modern society is the systematic control of the life world, which is what Habermas calls the "colonization of the life world." The mass media has become the spokesperson of the economy and interest groups, the logic of currency dominates public life, money has become a general equivalent, and state power controls the public sphere, manipulating the right to speak to guide public opinion. Public life and private life have been completely torn apart. The shaping function that the family should have has been drained by the public domain. Individuals cannot enjoy the security effect of family life, the communication structure of private life, and personal expression. , the emotional catharsis of public actions has been alienated to some extent. Friends can no longer be made, words are no longer sincere, and public life falls apart. The energy that society should have has is no longer there. During this period, we no longer know who we are.
Of these three transformations, the first transformation is that the bourgeoisie has its own subjective consciousness, the second transformation is the completion of a huge organizational incorporation, then the third transformation can be said to be the " Who am I?” Devouring, this is a huge crisis.
Habermas believes that there are four main crises in late capitalist society: ① Economic crisis. This is caused by the inability of economic subsystems to generate sufficient productivity to meet people's needs. ②Rationality crisis, that is, political crisis. This is caused by the inability of the political-administrative subsystem to make a sufficient number of instrumental decisions. ③Motive crisis. This arises when actors do not feel obliged to fully participate in society. This motivational crisis occurs when the cultural system cannot provide inspiring motivation for individuals in the activities required by the country and the socioeconomic system in the process of socialization. ④Legitimacy crisis. This arises because actors do not trust the decision-making power of the political subsystem. This kind of legitimacy crisis arises when the correctness and rationality of the social and political order are openly questioned and when the system cannot guarantee the necessary loyalty and obedience of the citizens. Economic crisis and political crisis are institutional crises. The motivation crisis and the legitimacy crisis belong to the identity crisis. Institutional crisis occurs because the social regulatory system has accumulated a large number of unsolvable problems, and the "organizing principles" of society can no longer solve these problems in order to make the system continue to exist. Institutional crisis manifests itself in the decline in efficiency of economic and political systems and the disintegration of social life. The identity crisis arises because traditional practices of socialization have lost their ability to integrate society. Identity crisis directly threatens social integration. The economic and political crises of late capitalism no longer occupy a dominant position. The institutional crisis has been alleviated in the process of social integration, and the identity crisis has risen to a dominant position. But Habermas believes that the public domain itself contains emancipatory potential. He believes that beyond purpose rationality, there is the power of communicative rationality, which can be released.
Habermas’s discussion of issues in the public domain first sorted it out in the historical-sociological category, but it went beyond that. The reason why he wants to break through the scope of historical cleaning is that he wants to construct an ideal public domain through this kind of historical cleaning. And this ideal public realm is what he uses to criticize late capitalist society. Therefore, in "The Structural Transformation of the Public Security Field", the "public security domain" first appears as a historical reality type. Specifically, the bourgeois public domain appeared in the history of Britain in the late 17th century and France in the 18th century. This realistic type of public domain, using Habermas's example, is the place where public opinions appeared in history such as chambers of commerce, coffee shops, publishing houses, newspapers and magazines. In these venues, businessmen, writers, artists, etc. openly discuss issues related to social life and public interests. In his reply to the Chinese academic circle, he summarized the basic characteristics of the "bourgeois public domain": "The bourgeois public domain is a special historical form, although it is different from that in the Italian Renaissance cities. Its predecessors have some similarities, but it first appeared in England and France in the 17th and 18th centuries, and then spread throughout Europe and the United States together with the modern nation-state in the 19th century. Its most prominent feature is reading daily newspapers. They form a loose but open and flexible social network among individuals in weekly and monthly reviews, and they gather spontaneously through private societies and often at the core of institutions such as academic associations, reading groups, financial societies, and religious societies. Together.
Theaters, museums, as well as cafes, tea rooms, salons, etc. provide a public space for entertainment and dialogue. These early public works gradually extended along the social dimension, and became more and more all-encompassing in terms of topics: the focus shifted from art and literature to politics. ”
Although in reality, this design has not been achieved until the end of the 20th century, in Habermas’s view, the ideal form of the public domain still has to be discussed and worked hard for. Necessary, because the public security field is the core for good social management. In the public security field, people can make proactive political decisions, and the effects of political actions can receive timely feedback, thereby promoting decision-making. Only by striving to approach this ideal model can the public policy field be used as a fair standard to test whether the policy is functioning well.
The public policy field can be used as a fair standard. Although the proposal is extremely progressive, it is undeniable that this theory has been criticized for being limited to "bourgeois white men"
With the emergence of new technologies, the public does not need to rely on political and economic power. Being able to speak out provides conditions for the formation of the public sphere to a certain extent. However, Habermas pointed out that the Internet not only cannot guarantee political mobilization and participation, but may also contribute to the fragmentation of civil society and reflect reality and focus. Real and vague, it opens up a public domain where opinions differ rather than unanimously (hot spots iterate rapidly, causing the audience’s attention to be distracted and social action to be weakened). In addition, discourse in the Internet space is more expressed as follows. Emotional characteristics, not everyone has the ability to think rationally. Therefore, in a sense, the public domain is still a beautiful vision in the Internet era
April 29, 2018.