Social Media as a Public Sphere : Arendt and Habermas in Cyberspace

The following essay aims to investigate recent transformations of the public sphere influenced by social media. The main goal is to use the philosophical frameworks and concepts developed by Arendt and Habermas as an analytic tool to better understand social media in their role as a public sphere. The first part outlines the concept of the public sphere and its related concepts as developed in Arendt’s The Human Condition and Habermas’ The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Central themes are discussed and juxtaposed primarily in between Arendt and Habermas, but also with the ideas of later philosophers. From this discussion emerges a theoretical framework in terms of two main headings; the properties of the public sphere, and; the character of the political discourse in the public sphere. The second part examines central features of present-day social media utilizing the conceptual framework deriving from Arendt’s and Habermas’ notions of the public sphere. Salient features of contemporary social media and political discourse are juxtaposed with properties of the analytical framework developed in the first part of the essay. The analysis shows that the public sphere and its discourse have changed in significant ways. The analysis also shows that the notion of the public sphere, developed 60 years ago, is still a useful tool for the analysis of our present-day public sphere