Re-Imagining Public Space

With a foreword by Stephen Bronner, this volume edited by Diana Boros and James Glass, consists of reflections from contemporary political and social theorists on the concept of public space and what it means in the context of modern political life. The contributors take as their fundamental position the importance of the theorists of the Frankfurt School (Adorno, Benjamin, Horkheimer, Marcuse, Habermas) in laying the foundation for thinking about public space. But the contributors move beyond a historical analysis of these theorists; each contribution offers a new perspective on how to think about public space, how to theorize its implications, and how to construct a theory of democratic political life through political action that takes seriously how politics works itself out in the public space. The contributors, including Douglas Kellner, David Ingram, Lauren Langman, Lars Rensmann, Michael Thompson, Michael Diamond, C. Fred Alford, Mary Caputi, and Malcolm Miles, come from a variety of scholarly backgrounds but all are in agreement that a democratic politics will not be viable in protecting rights, tolerance and freedom unless it is grounded in a theory that embraces participation in public life, as well as art and protest as democratic action in the public space.