Does the public sphere also feel?

On emotions and civic discourse in the digital age

Abstract

The starting point of this article is growing attention given nowadays to affection and emotions as unavoidable dimensions from the point of view of civic participation, particularly in the context of online and social media – and the consequences that this attention brings to the notion of the public sphere. It starts from the identification of some of the difficulties intrinsic to the classical idea of the public sphere, especially those that result from its strict structuring based on discursive rationalism. Appreciates the structure of the media and the way this structure embraces forms of expressiveness in public conversation. It describes the transformation of the ethos associated with the forms of discursiveness, and the inclusion, with a renewed status, of characteristics such as affection or emotions. Enunciate some of the ambivalences associated with the presence of emotions in the public sphere, and, more specifically, in journalism, and how these ambivalences result in a renewed look at opportunities for civic participation and, equally, at the dangers that threaten the public discourse.