A Research On Habermas' Public Sphere Theory

Numerous scholars have studied and analyzed the public sphere from different perspectives after Arendt had proposed the concept of public sphere.To date,public sphere is still an academic issue that deserves further study.And when it comes to the public sphere,we have to talk about Habermas---the representative of Frankfurt School,and his book The Structural Transformation of Public Sphere.It is in this book that Habermas inherits and develops the essence of Arendt's public sphere,and analyzes the public sphere of bourgeois.In this book,from the historical and sociological angles,Habermas analyzes the emergence and ending of classic and representative public sphere through the three stages experienced by western history,and identifies initially the bourgeois public sphere.He also demonstrates the social structure,political function,ideology and transformation of social structure.In essence,Habermas sees the bourgeois public sphere as a historical category,presenting us with a dynamic process of its emergence,development and evolution.Sticking to the outlook and methodology of Marxist philosophy,this thesis aims to conduct a deep analysis of the huge and complex theory of Habermas on public sphere,to find its value and limitations,to draw it significance and to evade its idealism based on the book The Structural Transformation of Public Sphere and the relevant studies of scholars both at home and abroad.Then,this thesis attempts to combine the theories of public sphere with Chinese society,assess the rationality and possibility of constructing the public sphere with Chinese characteristics and put forward the corresponding advice.In addition to the introduction section,this thesis consists of three chapters.Chapter I provides the background of public sphere,including the description of realistic background,theoretical background as well as the relationship between Habermas and the Frankfurt School,andsummarizes comprehensively the external motivation of Habermas' theory of public sphere.Chapter II depicts the public sphere theory from multiple perspectives,including its connotation,characteristics,elements,functions,realization mechanism,existing crisis and final transformation.Based on the results of Chapter II,Chapter III assesses the duality,the positive and negative influences,of public sphere theory,and proposes the development and thinking of Chinese public sphere problems with respect to the reference of its duality.It is worth noting that the significance of Habermas' public sphere theory that exerted on Chinese public theory lies mostly in former's thoughts and perspectives.The key to the problems Chinese public sphere is not whether there is the concept of public sphere itself but in whether the construction of public sphere will be conducive to solving the real problems faced in the reality.