In this article, I introduce the Dewey-Lippmann democracy debate of the 1920s as a vehicle for considering how social theory can enhance the empirical viability of participatory democratic theory within the current context of advanced capitalism. I situate within this broad theoretical framework the theories of Habermas and Dewey. In the process, I argue (a) that while Dewey largely failed to reconcile his democratic ideal with the empirical constraint of large-scale organizations, Habermas, in particular his work on the public sphere, provides an important starting point for considering the state of public participation within the communication distortions of advanced capitalism; (b) that to fully understand the relation between communication distortions and public participation, social theorists must look beyond Habermas and return to Dewey to mobilize his bi-level view of habitual and reflective human agency; and, finally, (c) that the perspective of a Deweyan political theory of reflective agency best furthers our understanding of potential communication distortions and public participation, particularly in the empirical spaces of media centralization and intellectual property rights.
%0 Journal Article
%1 whipple_dewey-lippmann_2005
%A Whipple, Mark
%D 2005
%J Sociological Theory
%K 1920s classic-work-treatment dewey dewey-lippman-debate externalist intellectual interwar lippmann political-theory united-states
%N 2
%P 156--178
%R 10.1111/j.0735-2751.2005.00248.x
%T The Dewey-Lippmann Debate Today: Communications Distortions, Reflective Agency, and Participatory Democracy
%V 23
%X In this article, I introduce the Dewey-Lippmann democracy debate of the 1920s as a vehicle for considering how social theory can enhance the empirical viability of participatory democratic theory within the current context of advanced capitalism. I situate within this broad theoretical framework the theories of Habermas and Dewey. In the process, I argue (a) that while Dewey largely failed to reconcile his democratic ideal with the empirical constraint of large-scale organizations, Habermas, in particular his work on the public sphere, provides an important starting point for considering the state of public participation within the communication distortions of advanced capitalism; (b) that to fully understand the relation between communication distortions and public participation, social theorists must look beyond Habermas and return to Dewey to mobilize his bi-level view of habitual and reflective human agency; and, finally, (c) that the perspective of a Deweyan political theory of reflective agency best furthers our understanding of potential communication distortions and public participation, particularly in the empirical spaces of media centralization and intellectual property rights.
@article{whipple_dewey-lippmann_2005,
abstract = {In this article, I introduce the Dewey-Lippmann democracy debate of the 1920s as a vehicle for considering how social theory can enhance the empirical viability of participatory democratic theory within the current context of advanced capitalism. I situate within this broad theoretical framework the theories of Habermas and Dewey. In the process, I argue (a) that while Dewey largely failed to reconcile his democratic ideal with the empirical constraint of large-scale organizations, Habermas, in particular his work on the public sphere, provides an important starting point for considering the state of public participation within the communication distortions of advanced capitalism; (b) that to fully understand the relation between communication distortions and public participation, social theorists must look beyond Habermas and return to Dewey to mobilize his bi-level view of habitual and reflective human agency; and, finally, (c) that the perspective of a Deweyan political theory of reflective agency best furthers our understanding of potential communication distortions and public participation, particularly in the empirical spaces of media centralization and intellectual property rights.},
added-at = {2019-08-29T01:56:31.000+0200},
author = {Whipple, Mark},
biburl = {https://www.bibsonomy.org/bibtex/20f93bcbe53db2f78a6a0b931580387ed/jpooley},
doi = {10.1111/j.0735-2751.2005.00248.x},
interhash = {9ac8140cc1c922aa8e71e09ef218a751},
intrahash = {0f93bcbe53db2f78a6a0b931580387ed},
journal = {Sociological Theory},
keywords = {1920s classic-work-treatment dewey dewey-lippman-debate externalist intellectual interwar lippmann political-theory united-states},
number = 2,
pages = {156--178},
timestamp = {2019-08-29T01:56:31.000+0200},
title = {The {{Dewey}}-{{Lippmann Debate Today}}: {{Communications Distortions}}, {{Reflective Agency}}, and {{Participatory Democracy}}},
volume = 23,
year = 2005
}