Taylor's Public Sphere

Book Review # 99612

Public Administration
Sociology > Theory

This paper critically analyzes Charles Taylor's views about the public sphere in his book, "Modern Social Imaginaries".

1,106 words () | 2 sources | MLA | 2007 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper examines how Charles Taylor describes the nature of modern social organization in his book "Modern Social Imaginaries". The paper details Taylor's arguments of the public sphere in order to determine whether his descriptions seem to represent a realistic depiction of how modern political organization is constituted. The paper analyzes Taylor's argument based upon an analysis of Ursula Franklin's work describing the role that technology plays in modern life. The paper concludes that in light of Franklin's theories, Taylor's argument becomes almost irrelevant.

Outline:
The Relation between "Social Imaginary" and the "Public Sphere"
The Characteristics of the Public Sphere
A Critique Based on Technology

From the Paper:

"In his book Modern Social Imaginaries, Charles Taylor describes the nature of modern social organization by defining its background understandings and its practical forms and characterizations. He argues that the public sphere is an extrapolitical, metatopical common space in which individuals come together to exchange ideas that serve to form their body politics, and then hold that political organization accountable for their common understandings of what they represent as a people. The public sphere, according to Taylor's formulation, is informed by and informing of a public's social imaginary, or its set of shared understandings about itself and its power relations."

Sample of Sources Used:

Franklin, Ursula. The Real World of Technology. (Toronto: Anansi, 1999).
Taylor, Charles. Modern Social Imaginaries. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2004).