Page "Public sphere" Paragraph 3

The public sphere mediates between the " private sphere " and the " Sphere of Public Authority ", " The private sphere comprised civil society in the narrower sense, that is to say, the realm of commodity exchange and of social labor.

" Whereas the " Sphere of Public Authority " dealt with the State, or realm of the police, and the ruling class, the public sphere crossed over both these realms and " Through the vehicle of public opinion it put the state in touch with the needs of society.

" " This area is conceptually distinct from the state: it a site for the production and circulation of discourses that can in principle be critical of the state.

" The public sphere ' is also distinct from the official economy ; it is not an arena of market relations but rather one of discursive relations, a theater for debating and deliberating rather than for buying and selling.

" These distinctions between " state apparatuses, economic markets, and democratic associations ... are essential to democratic theory.

" The people themselves came to see the public sphere as a regulatory institution against the authority of the state.

The study of the public sphere centers on the idea of participatory democracy, and how public opinion becomes political action.