The Fall And Reconstruction Of Public Life

Through criticizing the theory of public realm which was proposed and made it famous by Hannah Arendt and Jurgen Habermas,Sennett expanded the theory of public realm from a strong political area to a daily life area,then made a great contribution to the third school: the performative school.This school thought that the public realm was vivid and tangible,it mainly focused on the street clothing and communicating ways.After the collapse of the Bretton Woods System,Sennett did not abandon the study of the public life and public realm,though he mainly focused on the study of the New Capitalism.Through these he tried to find the possibility and a kind of scheme which could be beneficial to the reconstruction of public life in the new age.This study attempted to follow the research approach of Sennett,then gave a systematic analysis of Sennett's public life theory.On these ways the writer tried to enrich the theoretical study of public life.Firstly this paper gave a brief introduction about the western public life theory,then tried to conducted a comparative analysis of three schools which studied public life theory;Secondly,based on Sennett's study of theater and market as public space in change,this paper started to study Sennett's theory in two different stages;Once again this paper tried to take a brief summary and analysis;Finally tried to discuss Sennett's public life theory,then take an evaluation of some of the issues that exist in Sennett's public life theory.The study found that:(1)Sennett was not the first one to put forward the concept of the public life,but rather absorbing Goffman and Geertz's theory by criticizing the daily public life.;(2)By researching the changes of public life which from the ancient Greek to the western society in 1970 s,Sennett elaborated the historical process of public life;(3)Sennett's scheme of reconstruction was included in three parts: reconstruction of narrative,increasing the feeling of use and advocating the craftsmanship.The first two was trying to rebuild people's life which was influenced in the new capitalism.The third one was the most important and Sennett wished that it can play an important role in the reconstruction,because the craftsmanship not only could put the material labor to public life,but also could benefit of the first two.