Reading Habermas with Habermas

a study of the 1990 preface to The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere

Abstract

How does an author re-read his/her own work some decades after its publication? This question is particularly striking when one takes into the account that the work in question, The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere, has become a milestone in Political Communication Studies since its first publication in 1962. This paper analysis Habermas’ preface to the 1990 edition, an extensive review and self-criticism of the work, in order to highlight four aspects: (1) the differences of the media environment from 1962, 1990 and today; (2) the ambivalence of ‘public sphere’ as a concept in each case and (3) the tension between media communication and personal conversation that permeates the concept; (4) the problematization of difference and power asymmetries in the constitution of the public sphere. These elements are analyzed against the background of some critical studies of Habermas’ work.