Jürgen Habermas (2022), Ein neuer Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit und die deliberative Politik, Berlín, Suhrkamp Verlag, 108 pp.

Abstract

With the publication of History and Critique of Public Opinion (HCOP, Habermas, 2009) in 1962, Jürgen Habermas succeeded in clarifying the concept of the public sphere and structurally situating a space that is crucial for the sociological and political analysis of modern democracies. By understanding the 'public sphere as an intermediate site between civil society and the state, Habermas exposed the “functional contribution to social integration and in particular to the political integration of citizens” of the public sphere, and highlighted the role of the media in this integration (Habermas, 2022: 9). His critical theory perspective also allowed him to show the political, social and media pathologies that obstruct the proper functioning of the public sphere and therefore of democracy - power asymmetries, the influence of economic and political interests, the disconnection between state policies and civil demands, the exclusion of social groups, or the lack of regulation of the media system. It should come as no surprise that this book is, more than six decades later, Habermas' most successful and one of his most discussed works.