Research On Nancy Fraser's Feminist Public Sphere Theory

The concept of “public sphere” has been widely known since the publication of Habermas' the Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere.But meanwhile,it has also aroused many controversies.Nancy Fraser,a famous feminist thinker,amended the concept of “public sphere” from the perspective of feminism,then proposed the theory of feminist public sphere.She confirmed that the concept of “public sphere” has positive effects on promoting the gender justice and social equality,also criticized the neglect of women and false gender neutral reflected in Habermas' theory of public sphere.This paper consists of four chapters.The introduction part states the background of the research,the significance of the topic selection,and research methods used in this paper.In addition,the research status and shortcomings of Nancy Fraser's feminist public sphere theory has been summarized.In the first chapter,two basic concepts,the concept of public sphere and the concept of feminism,and their characteristics have been described.After that,it analyzes the source of ideology and realistic basis of Nancy Fraser's feminist public sphere theory from both theoretical and practical aspects.The second chapter explains the basic content of Nancy Fraser' feminist public sphere theory from three aspects,including elements,subjects,and realization paths of the feminist public sphere.First of all,Nancy Fraser criticizes the four basic hypotheses of Habermas' public sphere theory from four elements of participation,structure,topic,and politics,then presents her own constituent elements of feminist public sphere theory.Secondly,after putting forward the elements of her feminist public sphere,Nancy Fraser interprets the two subjects of the feminist public sphere theory,which are the feminist public sphere of gender,race,as well as institutional diversity,and the trans-national andregional feminist public sphere.Finally,Nancy Fraser believes that the realization paths of the public sphere includes the path of economic redistribution,the path of institutionalization of political meta-democracy and the path of cultural recognition.The chapter three is a review of Nancy Fraser's feminist public sphere theory.Nancy Fraser's feminist public sphere theory inherits the social critical theory of Frankfurt School and the dialectic tradition of Marxism,expresses the appeal of women,and raises a new path to achieve gender justice.It has certain theoretical and ethical value,however,there are many limitations of Nancy Fraser's feminist public sphere theory.Her feminist public sphere theory is still the criticism and transformation of the injustice of women under the framework of capitalism,with excessive emphasis on the principle of multiculturalism,which results in the trend of internal division of her feminist theory.In addition,Nancy Fraser criticizes Habermas' theory of public sphere,but she was unable to provide a new conceptual analysis of public sphere beyond Habermas.Her theoretical assumption was idealistic and difficult to realize.Finally,how to use Nancy Fraser's feminist public sphere theory as the reference to protect the rights and interests of Chinese women based on the real situation remains to be further researched and discussed.