Why the Net is not a Public Sphere

@article{Dean2003WhyTN,
  title={Why the Net is not a Public Sphere},
  author={Jodi Dean},
  journal={Constellations},
  year={2003},
  volume={10},
  pages={95-112}
}
  • J. Dean
  • Published 1 March 2003
  • Political Science
  • Constellations
What is the relation between the idea of the public sphere and computer-mediated interaction? I argue that the notion of the public sphere is not only inapplicable to the Net, but also and more importantly, that it is damaging to practices of democracy under conditions of contemporary technoculture, conditions Manuel Castells theorizes as capitalism in the information mode of development and which I refer to as communicative capitalism.1 As an alternative to the public sphere, I consider the… 
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