June 21, 2006
In the Human Condition Arendt speaks in terms of the loss of the eclipse of the common public world meaning that the public realm has lost its power to gather us together.This eclipse resonates with us today given that a liberal way of life is more interest in consumption than citizenship. There has been a shift away from the political towards the social, and the new politically empty quasi-public realm is complemented by individualised private lives filled with a search for identity through consumption.
The public realm is of utmost importance because it allows individuals to create a common world through appearance and a space where our individual ideas can compete to be seen and heard through speech and
persuasion.
The rise of the social (mass consumer society) and the subsequent demise of the public realm, is symptomatic of the demise of the political more generally, and the wider trend to limit political theory to governance and public policy, ensuring that the contemporary public realm remains confined to a very 'restricted, impersonal sphere of administration'.
|