Critical Concepts Dictionary: Public Sphere

Jürgen Habermas introduced the idea of the public sphere: something that didn't exist until certain forces lined up - economic forces, technological forces, religious forces - to create a middle class, and therefore birth of public opinion. The public sphere is an area in social life where people can meet and have rational and critical debates about social/political issues. Ideally, this is a positive thing for the middle class, who then can keep authorities in check. This information today, Habermas argues,drowned out by infotainment and other mass entertainment media.