Reign of Appearances
The Misery and Splendor of the Public Sphere
- Author: Ari Adut, University of Texas, Austin
- Date Published: September 2023
- availability: Available
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781316632383
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The public sphere is the realm of appearances - not citizenship. Its central event is spectacle - not dialogue. Marked by an asymmetry between the few who act and the many who watch, and subjecting all its contents to visibility, the public sphere can undermine liberal democracy, law, and morality. But the public sphere also liberates us from the burdens and bondages of private life and fosters an existentially vital aesthetic experience. Reign of Appearances uses a great variety of cases to reveal the logic of the public sphere, including homosexuality in Victorian England; the 2008 crash; antisemitism in Europe; confidence in American presidents; communications in social media; special prosecutor investigations; the visibility of African-Americans; violence during the French Revolution; the Islamic veil; contemporary sexual politics; public executions; and pricing in art. This unconventional account of the public sphere is critical reading for anyone who wants to understand the effects of visibility in urban life, politics, and the media.
Read more- Challenges the common wisdom that the public sphere is always good for democracy
- Asserts that spectatorship - and not civic participation - is the essence of the public sphere
- Argues that spectatorship, which is a much-disdained stance, is an existentially vital aesthetic experience
Awards
- Winner, 2020 Theory Prize, American Sociological Association
Reviews & endorsements
Advance praise: 'For most political theorists, the public sphere is simply the place where people like them argue about politics. Ari Adut thinks that this is both unrealistic and unimaginative. In this brilliant and original book, he gives us a far more critical account – and then a lovely (and unexpected) appreciation of how we live in public places and in public view.' Michael Walzer, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, New Jersey
See more reviewsAdvance praise: 'An original, provocative, sustained, and sophisticated theoretical-cum-empirical work on a vital topic. Written with panache and style, and filled with deft scholarly references from the history of philosophy, the visual arts, and literature, the book is a great pleasure to read.' Jeffrey Alexander, Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology, Yale University, Connecticut
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×Product details
- Date Published: September 2023
- format: Paperback
- isbn: 9781316632383
- length: 220 pages
- dimensions: 229 x 152 mm
- weight: 0.367kg
- availability: Available
Table of Contents
1. A critique
2. A realistic perspective
3. Publicity
4. Politics in public
5. Content regulation
6. Visibility in society
7. Law and morality in the public sphere
8. A defense of spectatorship
References
Index.
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