76 485 - New Public Sphere

Institution:

Carnegie Mellon University

Subject:

Description:

Democracy demands deliberation. But what form should talk take in the public sphere? Should we aspire, with Habermas's influential theory, to the liberal ideal of critical-rational discourse, which achieves equality by "bracketing" or ignoring social difference and seeks a consensus based on the force of rational argument? Or, as others argue in the name of "actually existing democracies," should we embrace difference as a resource, value conflict and counterpublics as a way to circulate new ideas and identities, and replace the norms of formal rationality with a demand for reasoning, open to the non-elite discourses of narrative and testimony, moral advocacy and emotion? In this course, we will combine this energetic theoretical discussion of the public sphere with a look at the grounded practice of local publics that emerge in workplaces, web forums, grassroots or civic groups, and community think tanks. Since counterpublics and local publics enter the arc of controversy well before the more formal process of writing legislation or policy, we will be asking how they carry out the rhetorical work of creating a public controversy, of framing (or re-framing) problems, and of dealing with social, economic and cultural difference. How do they balance the goals of protest, advocacy, and deliberation? To support your own inquiry into the meaning making process of a local public, you will learn methods for activity analysis and for tracing a social/cognitive negotiation.

Credits:

9.00

Credit Hours:

Prerequisites:

Corequisites:

Exclusions:

Level:

Instructional Type:

Lecture

Notes:

Additional Information:

Historical Version(s):

Institution Website:

www.cmu.edu/

Phone Number:

(412) 268-2000

Regional Accreditation:

Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools

Calendar System:

Semester

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