THE DECLINE OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE: A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF THE RHETORIC OF RACE IN NEW YORK CITY

Abstract

Habermas’ theory of the structural transformation of the public sphere has been a point of departure for theoretical debate for more than forty years. Habermas’ explains the decline of a discursive space for public discussion of collective interests as resulting from the emergence of consumer culture in post-industrial capitalism. Whereas the public sphere was originally a location of rational-critical activity, public life today is a spectator sport. The dominance of media corporations has undermined the potential for critical debate of pressing social issues, including race. This study seeks to illuminate the change in public discussions of race in New York City. A comparison is made between nineteenth-century and contemporary discourse. The nineteenth-century discourse is represented by texts from The Weekly Advocate and The Colored American, two important black Abolitionist newspapers published in New York City between 1837 and 1841; this discourse has a two-sided focus: an attack on slavery and a call for civil rights, and as such, combines analysis of the violence of racism and the nature of racial inequality. To find a parallel in the contemporary discourse, news articles from New York Times, from 1998, were collected. An innovative semiotic content coding strategy is used to describe the conceptual network and ideology of public discussions of race in New York City.

Citation

Shortell, T. (2004), "THE DECLINE OF THE PUBLIC SPHERE: A SEMIOTIC ANALYSIS OF THE RHETORIC OF RACE IN NEW YORK CITY", Krase, J. and Hutchison, R. (Ed.) Race and Ethnicity in New York City (Research in Urban Sociology, Vol. 7), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 159-177. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1047-0042(04)07007-2