{"title":"Democracy in the digital public sphere: disruptive or self-corrective?","authors":"Hans-Jörg Trenz","doi":"10.1093/ct/qtad009","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"Abstract The article assesses the post-democratic scenario of a public sphere that is detached from democracy. By describing how public spheres are transformed by the Internet, it is asked whether the co-constitutive dynamics between the public sphere and democracy still apply in the digital age, or whether we are witnessing an ultimate rupture. The field of contemporary public sphere struggles in response to the digital transformations is discussed in terms of: (1) the rebalancing of privacy and publicity; (2) the truth orientation and rationality of public debates; and (3) the modes of empowerment of the will of the people. By evaluating the empirical evidence for the deep disruptions of the public sphere and democracy, it will become possible to develop a better understanding of the self-corrective mechanisms of public sphere resilience and renewal in the digital age.","PeriodicalId":48102,"journal":{"name":"Communication Theory","volume":"193 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":4.7000,"publicationDate":"2023-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Communication Theory","FirstCategoryId":"1085","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1093/ct/qtad009","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"文学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"COMMUNICATION","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Abstract The article assesses the post-democratic scenario of a public sphere that is detached from democracy. By describing how public spheres are transformed by the Internet, it is asked whether the co-constitutive dynamics between the public sphere and democracy still apply in the digital age, or whether we are witnessing an ultimate rupture. The field of contemporary public sphere struggles in response to the digital transformations is discussed in terms of: (1) the rebalancing of privacy and publicity; (2) the truth orientation and rationality of public debates; and (3) the modes of empowerment of the will of the people. By evaluating the empirical evidence for the deep disruptions of the public sphere and democracy, it will become possible to develop a better understanding of the self-corrective mechanisms of public sphere resilience and renewal in the digital age.
期刊介绍:
Communication Theory is an international forum publishing high quality, original research into the theoretical development of communication from across a wide array of disciplines, such as communication studies, sociology, psychology, political science, cultural and gender studies, philosophy, linguistics, and literature. A journal of the International Communication Association, Communication Theory especially welcomes work in the following areas of research, all of them components of ICA: Communication and Technology, Communication Law and Policy, Ethnicity and Race in Communication, Feminist Scholarship, Global Communication and Social Change, Health Communication, Information Systems, Instructional/Developmental Communication, Intercultural Communication, Interpersonal Communication, Journalism Studies, Language and Social Interaction, Mass Communication, Organizational Communication, Philosophy of Communication, Political Communication, Popular Communication, Public Relations, Visual Communication Studies, Children, Adolescents and the Media, Communication History, Game Studies, Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Studies, and Intergroup Communication. The journal aims to be inclusive in theoretical approaches insofar as these pertain to communication theory.