Reign of Appearances

The Misery and Splendor of the Public Sphere

by Ari Adut

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Pub Date Jan 22 2018 | Archive Date Feb 22 2018

Description

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.

Challenges the common wisdom that 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
Read more at http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/sociology/political-sociology/reign-appearances-misery-and-splendor-public-sphere#c8fXoijsGmq4uMvO.99

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...

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

‘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

Read more at http://www.cambridge.org/us/academic/subjects/sociology/political-sociology/reign-appearances-misery-and-splendor-public-sphere#c8fXoijsGmq4uMvO.99