The Public Sphere

Public Sphere occurs when we communicate in a larger group, such as a community. According to Martha Cooper, “the public sphere… is not a real place… in which you could sit down and have a conversation…” The public sphere represents a community as a whole, something that affects everyone in it or even just the majority of people in it, is the beginning to forming a public sphere. The way to determine that we have entered into the public sphere is when we realize you are motivated by the needs of others, as well as ourselves. An example of being in the public sphere is something such as Hurricane Katrina. It was made national news; it was not kept secret, and in doing so thousands of people, if not more, were out there helping the community to clean up the mess. This was a perfect example of being motivated by the needs of others. Another example is the MADD program, Mothers Against Drunk Driving. This was a situation that could have been kept quite in order to protect the privacy of their child, as well as their family. Instead, the mothers wanted to share their stories with the world in hopes to prevent or bring down the number of drunk drivers.