Abstract
In the context of a research project concerned with contemporary cafés, the authors have revisited Habermas's famous 1962/1989 work on the transformation of the 'public sphere', wherein the figure of the early-modern English coffee-house holds considerable significance. The outlines of Habermas's claims are inspected, and three lines of critique - to do with spatiality, sociability and practices - are held up against his depiction of coffee-houses as contained and egalitarian spaces of calm rational-critical debate. Theoretical work is combined with a re-reading of Habermas's fragmentary notes on the coffee-house, together with borrowings from both secondary texts and republished primary sources. The chief aim is to develop critical materials to inform further inquiry into coffee-houses and similar establishments, past and present, as sites for the practical conduct of public life.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 259-281 |
Number of pages | 23 |
Journal | Social and Cultural Geography |
Volume | 8 |
Issue number | 2 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Apr 2007 |
Keywords / Materials (for Non-textual outputs)
- Coffee-houses
- Habermas
- Practices
- Sociability
- Spatiality