Page 60 - Democracy and the Public Sphere

Discursive Testing: The Public Sphere and its Critics 55

has become something of a microcosm for these tensions and
contradictions (Chapter 4). It affords anonymity and disembodiment
but also possibilities for reconfigured embodiment (the carefully

crafted self of the personal home page, for example, or the ‘identity
play’ of the chat room or virtual community). The point is that our
model of the public sphere should account for, rather than simply
pathologise tout court, the role of bodies, icons and desire. At the
same time, it must continue to question the scope that exists for both
criticism and diversity, and the uneven levels of access to these sites
of (dis/re)embodiment enjoyed by different citizens.

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