LE3 .A278 2010

2010

Horgan, Mervyn

Acadia University

Bachelor of Arts

Honours

Sociology

Sociology

The work of Jurgen Habermas has analysed the public sphere, a realm within which people debate. According to Habermas, the public sphere, because of structural transformations of society, has disintegrated. This sphere in which people used to debate democratically about the interests of the population has eroded, especially with the invasion of capital within culture. In fact, once people started to benefit economically from culture, the content presented to the audience was transformed from something valuable to society to something profitable to media owners. This thesis demonstrates that the rise of consumerism has played a role in making mass culture an important tool for the commoditisation of society, creating a never-ending flow of consumption items. I argue that laissez- faire economics, the system in which the communication sector navigates, inevitably leads to concentration of ownership in the media. This concentration accelerates the problems created by the invasion of capital within culture. The case study of this thesis demonstrates that Québec‟ s public sphere has become myopic, because people debate mainly about apolitical matters. I argue that the unfettered rise of conglomerates such as Quebecor has played an important role in the creation of Québec‟ s Myopic Public Sphere.

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https://scholar.acadiau.ca/islandora/object/theses:736