Public sphere

Abstract

The article has been written as an entry for the Critical Dictionary of Civil Society. In the first part of the paper defining components of the notion of public sphere are examined. Public sphere is related to two social phenomena a) making deliberate efforts to develop an art of persuasion and to produce systematic spreading of publicity; b) arranging a set of institutions that are establishing public accessibility. Therefore, the definition of the public sphere is ambiguous: a) in the first meaning it is opposed to the secret and refers to the open, and visible, and accessible; b) in the second meaning it is opposed to the private and refers to a conceptual and physical area established by institutions. In each of the two meaning the focus is on the political relevance of the public sphere. The second part of the paper is a brief historical reconstruction of the different conceptions developed over time. In the third part some issues raised in current discussions on the significance and structure of the public sphere are introduced.

Javnost se odnosi a) na činjenje smišljenih napora u pravcu razvijanja veštine ubeđivanja i sistematskog širenja publiciteta, koje je pratio i b) na odgovarajući razvoj ustanova Pojam javnosti ima dvostruko značenje: u jednom smislu on se suprostavlja pojmu tajnog i odnosi se na ono što je otvoreno vidljivo, pristupačno drugim ljudima, u drugom smislu on označava poseban konceptualni i fizički prostor uređen ustanovama koji je suprostavljen pojmu privatnog, kao sferi diskrecionog odlučivanja pojedinca. Posebna pažnja, u oba slučaja, posvećena je političkom značaju pojma javnosti. Drugi deo teksta sastoji se od kratke istorijske rekonstrukcije promena u razumevanju pojma javnosti. U trećem delu teksta su izloženi neki problemi iz savremenih rasprava koji se tiču značaja i strukture sfere javnosti.