Öffentlichkeitskommunikation

Öffentlichkeit refers to the public sphere, a social space in which private individuals come together to discuss matters of common interest and to influence political action. In scholarly usage, the concept emphasizes how discourse among citizens can generate public opinion that anchors legitimate political participation.

A central formulation is provided by Jürgen Habermas, particularly in The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere (1962). He argued that a historically specific, secular bourgeois sphere emerged in which private people could assemble, discuss, and critique authorities in a setting distinct from the state and the family. Key features include accessibility for participants, rational-critical debate, equality of participants, and independence from private or governmental power.

The notion distinguishes the realm of public discourse from the state apparatus and from private life. Over time, the public sphere expanded with newspapers, salons, broadcast media, and, more recently, digital platforms, which broadened access and altered the modes of debate. In contemporary usage, Öffentlichkeit can also signify publicity or visibility—what is made available to the general public and how events are presented or reported.

Critiques emphasize that Habermas’s model reflects a particular historical period and privileged, often male, bourgeois voices. Critics also point to exclusionary practices based on gender, class, race, or geography, and to the fragmentation of publics into multiple, sometimes competing, spaces. The concept has been extended by theorists who emphasize counter-publics and the plurality of publics that negotiate power differently across diverse contexts.