Reading Questions: Jürgen Habermas, "The public sphere"(photocopy); Calhoun: vii-x; 1-48.

• What does Habermas mean by a "public sphere," in simple terms?

• What guarantees are necessary for a public sphere to operate?

•What are the media of the modern public sphere, according to Habermas?

•What is "public opinion" according to Habermas? How does public opinion differ from "mere opinions?"

•How does the bourgeois public sphere represent changes from the sense of public authority in the middle ages?

•How does the public sphere in the social welfare state represent changes from the bourgeois public sphere?