THE HIERARCHY IN HABERMAS’ POLITICAL PARTICIPATION UNDERSTANDING AND THE EGALITARIAN PUBLIC SPHERE PROMISE OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

Selen Tunç

Article Details

THE HIERARCHY IN HABERMAS’ POLITICAL PARTICIPATION UNDERSTANDING AND THE EGALITARIAN PUBLIC SPHERE PROMISE OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

Authors:

Selen Tunç

Publisher:

Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University

Main Topics:

Hukuk

Journal:

Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.27 Issue 3, pp.415-461

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

7/2023

Document Language:

Turkish

Document ID (Org No.):

2001296683

pISSN:

2651-4141

Keywords:

Abstract:

 One of the many concerns of Habermas is to advance a participatory democracy understanding against elitist democracy theories. However, his conception of political agency hardly enables egalitarian political participation. The double-layered hierarchy positioning participants to particular participation roles can be related to the rational consensus expectation of Habermas on public issues. The rational debaters who direct their attention to the public good over their self-interests act as active participants at the center of the public sphere. The passive participants lacking the required rationality conditions and so constitute the anonymous audience are at the periphery of the public sphere. Since Habermas determines the function of the public sphere as reaching a rational consensus, it is inevitable to classify participants by adopted rationality criteria. Habermas critique of the new forms of public spheres created through digital communication grounds the same concern. Digital communication dramatically challenges political participation roles by allowing each cyber citizen to be an author who can share opinions in their unique style of rhetoric about what matters in terms of the public good. According to Habermas, this transformation of political participation roles makes the egalitarian political sphere conceivable at the expense of consensus regarding public interests.

 One of the many concerns of Habermas is to advance a participatory democracy understanding against elitist democracy theories. However, his conception of political agency hardly enables egalitarian political participation. The double-layered hierarchy positioning participants to particular participation roles can be related to the rational consensus expectation of Habermas on public issues. The rational debaters who direct their attention to the public good over their self-interests act as active participants at the center of the public sphere. The passive participants lacking the required rationality conditions and so constitute the anonymous audience are at the periphery of the public sphere. Since Habermas determines the function of the public sphere as reaching a rational consensus, it is inevitable to classify participants by adopted rationality criteria. Habermas critique of the new forms of public spheres created through digital communication grounds the same concern. Digital communication dramatically challenges political participation roles by allowing each cyber citizen to be an author who can share opinions in their unique style of rhetoric about what matters in terms of the public good. According to Habermas, this transformation of political participation roles makes the egalitarian political sphere conceivable at the expense of consensus regarding public interests.

 One of the many concerns of Habermas is to advance a participatory democracy understanding against elitist democracy theories. However, his conception of political agency hardly enables egalitarian political participation. The double-layered hierarchy positioning participants to particular participation roles can be related to the rational consensus expectation of Habermas on public issues. The rational debaters who direct their attention to the public good over their self-interests act as active participants at the center of the public sphere. The passive participants lacking the required rationality conditions and so constitute the anonymous audience are at the periphery of the public sphere. Since Habermas determines the function of the public sphere as reaching a rational consensus, it is inevitable to classify participants by adopted rationality criteria. Habermas critique of the new forms of public spheres created through digital communication grounds the same concern. Digital communication dramatically challenges political participation roles by allowing each cyber citizen to be an author who can share opinions in their unique style of rhetoric about what matters in terms of the public good. According to Habermas, this transformation of political participation roles makes the egalitarian political sphere conceivable at the expense of consensus regarding public interests.

 Habermas, seçkinci demokrasi kuramlarına karşı katılımcı bir demokrasi anlayışı geliştirmeyi hedefler. Ne var ki siyasal failliğe dair kavrayışı nedeniyle eşitler arası siyasal katılım idealini ihlal eder. Habermasın siyasal katılım anlayışı merkezde aktif katılımcıların, çevrede pasif katılımcıların yer aldığı iki katmanlı bir katılım hiyerarşisi yaratır. Özel çıkarlarını geride bırakan rasyonel müzakereci, kamusal alanın aktif katılımcısı statüsündedir. Bu şartları sağlayamayan kişiler anonim izleyici kitlesini teşkil edecek pasif katılımcılardır. Eşitler arası katılım idealinin ihlali, ortak yarara ilişkin konsensüs hedefinin Habermas için öncelikli olmasıyla açıklanabilir. Kamusal alanın hedefi ortak yarara yönelik rasyonel konsensüs olarak belirlenince, benimsenen rasyonalite anlayışı doğrultusunda katılımcıları farklı statülere yerleştirmek kaçınılmaz hale gelir. Habermasın dijital iletişim aracılığıyla oluşan yeni kamusallık biçimlerine yönelik eleştirisi de aynı kaygıdan beslenir. Dijital iletişim kamusal katılım rollerine meydan okuyarak her kullanıcının yazar statüsünde olmasına olanak sağlar. Habermasa göre, siyasal katılım rollerindeki bu yenilik eşit katılım ideali için umut verici olsa da ortak yarara dair konsensüs hedefini tehlikeye atar.

Article Details

THE HIERARCHY IN HABERMAS’ POLITICAL PARTICIPATION UNDERSTANDING AND THE EGALITARIAN PUBLIC SPHERE PROMISE OF DIGITAL COMMUNICATION

Authors:

Selen Tunç

Publisher:

Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University

Main Topics:

Hukuk

Journal:

Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.27 Issue 3, pp.415-461

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

7/2023

Document Language:

Turkish

Document ID (Org No.):

2001296683

pISSN:

2651-4141

Digital communication

public sphere

deliberative democracy

egalitarian political participationDijital iletişim

kamusal alan

müzakereci demokrasi

Habermas

eşitlikçi siyasal katılım

Digital communication

public sphere

deliberative democracy

egalitarian poli-tical participation

Issues

Article Details

Authors: Selen Tunç

Publisher: Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University

Main Topics: Hukuk

Journal: Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.27 Issue 3, pp.415-461

Document Type: Article

Publication Date: 7/2023

Document Language: Turkish

Document ID (Org No.): 2001296683

pISSN: 2651-4141

Issues

Authors:

Selen Tunç

Publisher:

Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli University

Main Topics:

Hukuk

Journal:

Ankara Hacı Bayram Veli Üniversitesi Hukuk Fakültesi Dergisi Vol.27 Issue 3, pp.415-461

Document Type:

Article

Publication Date:

7/2023

Document Language:

Turkish

Document ID (Org No.):

2001296683

pISSN:

2651-4141