The Library of Congress > Linked Data Service > LC Subject Headings (LCSH)

Public sphere


  • URI(s)

  • Variants

    • Sphere, Public
  • Broader Terms

  • Closely Matching Concepts from Other Schemes

  • Sources

    • found: Work cat: 2019415165: Diálogos sobre lo público, 2018:p. 4 of cover ([cataloger's translation] Diálogos sobre lo público is a text that explores the sphere of the public today from different cognitive optics. What is public is what everyone can hear and see, what is of general interest, what concerns all the people and has the widest possible publicity. In Arendt's estimation, it is also conceived as what is of common interest and utility, what concerns the collective, what concerns the community and, therefore, concerns the authority emanating from it)
    • found: Buchanan, I. Dictionary of critical theory, 2010, via WWW, viewed Aug. 13, 2019(public sphere (Öffentlichkeit): Jürgen Habermas's term for any realm of social life in which public opinion can be formed. It comes into existence whenever a forum is created in which citizens can express their opinions concerning topics of general--i.e. public--interest, and those opinions can be subjected to critical debate)
    • found: Crossley, N. Key concepts in critical social theory, 2005, via WWW, viewed Aug. 13, 2019(public sphere: 'The public sphere' denotes a space, real or virtual, in which individuals, who otherwise live private lives and have their own private concerns, come together to discuss issues of common concern with the purpose of thrashing out their different views and arriving at a common position. It usually also entails that, in doing this, they generate a pressure for political/legal change by force of either reason or numbers. In this respect, a public sphere is an intermediary between the sphere of the private individual and that of the state. Importantly, however, it is never a part or arm of the state)
    • found: Dictionary of the social sciences (Calhoun), 2002, via WWW, viewed Aug. 13, 2019(public sphere and private sphere: The modern public sphere has two related meanings: it refers both to the open discussion among members of a collectivity about their common concerns and to the activities of the state that are central to defining that community)
    • found: Encyclopedia of American studies, 2018, via WWW, viewed Aug. 13, 2019(public sphere: The idea of "public" is central to theories of democracy. It appears both as the crucial subject of democracy--the people organized as a discursive and decision-making public--and as object; namely, the public good)
    • found: Harcup, T. Dictionary of journalism, 2014, via WWW, viewed Aug. 13, 2019(public sphere: A space in which informed citizens can engage with one another in rational debate and critical reflection, helping to form public opinion (or opinions plural). German sociologist and philosopher Jurgen Habermas (1929- ) located the initial emergence of such a conceptual sphere, independent of Church and State, in the physical space of London coffee houses in the late 17th century)
    • found: Lilleker, D.G. Key concepts in political communication, 2006, via WWW, viewed Aug. 13, 2019(public sphere: The public sphere is an abstract conception of the arena in which debate occurs; it is a hypothetical space which we all inhabit, generating and sharing ideas, where social knowledge is created and where public opinion is constructed. It is any place where people meet, share and discuss ideas and so influence one another)
    • found: New Oxford companion to law, 2009, via WWW, viewed Aug. 13, 2019(public sphere: The separation between public and private spheres of life is a notable characteristic of liberal democratic societies. The public sphere is conventionally associated with affairs of government; the private sphere with the family and intimate relations, but the distinction between them is ambiguous and complex)
  • LC Classification

    • H98
  • Instance Of

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  • Collection Membership(s)

  • Change Notes

    • 2019-08-13: new
    • 2020-02-18: revised
  • Alternate Formats