Synopses & Reviews
With a foreword by Stephen Bronner, this volume edited by Diana Boros and James Glass consists of reflections from contemporary political and social theorists on the concept of public space and what it means in the context of modern political life. The contributors lay the foundation for thinking about public space, moving beyond historical analyses of Frankfurt School theorists to offer a new perspective on how to think about public space, how to theorize its implications, and how to construct a theory of democratic political life through political action that takes seriously how politics workwithin the public space. The contributors, including Douglas Kellner, David Ingram, Lauren Langman, Lars Rensmann, Michael Thompson, Michael Diamond, C. Fred Alford, Mary Caputi, and Malcolm Miles, come from a variety of scholarly backgrounds but all are in agreement that a democratic politics will not be viable in protecting rights, tolerance, and freedom unless it is grounded in a theory that embraces participation in public life, as well as art and protest as democratic action in the public space
Synopsis
Public space, both literally and figuratively, is foundationally important to political life. From Socratic lectures in the public forum, to Occupy Wall Street and the Arab Spring, public spaces have long played host to political discussion and protest. The book provides a direct assessment of the role that public space plays in political life.
About the Author
Diana Boros is Assistant Professor of Political Theory in the Department of Political Science at St. Mary's College of Maryland, USA. She is also the author of
Creative Rebellion for the Twenty-First Century. James M. Glass is Professor of Government and Politics and a Distinguished Scholar/Teacher at the University of Maryland, College Park, USA. He is also the author of Jewish Resistance during the Holocaust.
Table of Contents
Foreword: Stephen Eric Bronner1. Habermas, the Public Sphere, and Democracy; Douglas Kellner
2. Reflections on the Meaning and Experience of Public Space: A Critical Psychoanalytic Perspective; Michael Diamond
3. The Public Sphere as Site of Emancipation and Enlightenment: A Discourse Theoretic Critique of Digital Communication; David Ingram and Asaf Bar-Tura
4. Walter Benjamin and the Modern Parisian Cityscape; Mary Caputi
5. Critical Spaces: Pubilc Spaces, the Culture Industry, Critical Theory, and Urbanism; Malcolm Miles
6. Idealizing Public Space: Arendt, Wolin, and the Frankfurt School; C. Fred Alford
7. Spatial Form and the Pathologies of Public Reason: Toward a Critical Theory of Space; Michael J. Thompson
8. Adorno and the Global Public Sphere: Rethinking Globalization and the Cosmopolitan Condition of Politics; Lars Rensmann
9. The Carnivalization of the Public Sphere; Lauren Langman
10. #OccupytheEstablishment: The Commodification of a "New Sustainability" for Public Space and Public Life; Diana Boros and Haley Smith