PUBLIC SPHERE
Conversations in eighteenth-century English coffeehouses (like the one shown) inspired Jürgen Habermas’s public-sphere theory. However, Habermas expressed concerns that the mass media could weaken the public sphere by allowing people to become passive consumers of the information distributed by the media instead of entering into debates with one another about what is best for society. What do you think of such concerns? Has the proliferation of political cable shows, Internet bloggers, and other mediated forums decreased serious public debate, or has it just shifted the conversation to places besides coffeehouses? The Granger Collection