Progressing from publicness to public-ism

According to an Italian social theorist, Walter Privitera, interest in the public sphere is in the third phase now. The first phase began with the publication in 1962 of Strukturwandel der Öffentlichkeit (The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere) by Jürgen Habermas. The second phase began in 1989, with the English translation of Habermas’ book. Now we are in the third phase which can be called “responsive public sphere.” Privitera says that the current argument to revitalize the public sphere is occurring in response to the invasion of the public sphere by populism. It is certain that the revitalization of publicness is required in society. The situation is the same in Japan. Although publicness is originally the core to support society, whether it is materialistic or unmaterialistic, in fact it is just ignored while two opposite poles consist of individuals and the state are valued highly. It’s not too much to say society itself declines in proportion to the decline of publicness...