December 18, 2008
This is the final essay written by Greg Bishop for the Fall 2008 Political Studies course 'Democratiztion and the Public Sphere' with Richard Gilman-Opalsky at the University of Illinois at Springfield
Sometimes social movements do not follow the concepts and theories behind democracy. Is this necessary for the movement to be effective? Cohen and Arato believe this is to exert influence over political channels to gain recognition in the public sphere. It is important to distinguish the difference between the public sphere and social movements.
The public sphere is the place where social movements perform civil disobedience. Like a plant in need of water, the public sphere’s thirst for democracy may be refreshed with civil disobedience. Unfortunately the public is like a cactus and able to go through long droughts. Hopefully the inactive participants take up social movements for justice like a sponge. Optimistically, society is willing to differentiate fresh, clean, and flowing water vs. stagnant, filthy, and infected water. In a movement for individual gain, some may harm the public sphere more than help. But what are some of the facilities the public can use to bring about social justice in the public sphere?
Civil disobedience is necessary for our journey to the unlikely; purely free and involving democracy. I say unlikely because I too have “sacrificed to realism the utopian core of the radical democratic project, namely, the goal of achieving of genuine citizen participation in public life (Arato, Cohen, 565).†We will never get to the utopian core of the radical democratic project, but our goal should be focused on more involvement from not just the professionals, but all of private society in the public sphere.
What is the motivation behind social movements? “Social movements seek to democratize civil society, to protect it from economic and political “colonization,†and to exert influence on political society (Arato, Cohen, 565).†The credibility of the movement depends on what motivates them. Benevolence should be a goal, if there is any hostility towards society the movement will decay from the inside. Sometimes hostility will be focused on the state, which may be necessary for recognition and protection from economic and political colonization.
When social movements strive for recognition they can go about gaining an open ear in two ways. Acknowledgment can be realized by means of the legal system (unlikely), which is based on bureaucracy – or – they can force recognition by violating norms and laws (guaranteed). The first option is not based on justice, which is what the latter’s focus should be. “The peculiarity of collective action involving civil disobedience is that it moves between the boundaries of insurrection and institutionalized political activity, between civil war and civil society†(Arato and Cohen, 566). This movement in between insurrection and institution can further guarantee at least the status of being recognized by the state.
The authors of 'Civil Disobedience and Civil Society' talk about civil disobedience being “extrainstitutional†(beyond formalized interconnectivity or organization.) Arato and Cohen also point to the contradiction of civil disobedience being granted by law … this reminds me of how a public sphere cannot be created by the state. In both cases the effectiveness, efficiency, and credibility of the movement in the public sphere is not realized. State mandated civil disobedience is the equivalent of covert military industrial provocateurism – or – black operations funded privately (or secretly with public funds) to force a march towards tyrannical power. This is possible by the fear that can be instilled in society by an unknown or invisible social movement.
Hidden transcripts (conscientious refusals beyond closed doors) are different from civil disobedience in the fact the public’s awareness of the hidden is unclear or even misunderstood.
"What distinguishes civil disobedience from conscientious refusal is that it is public in the dual sense of not being concealed or covert and of appealing to the general political principles of justice presumably shared by everyone in a constitutional regime, rather that to one’s personal morality, religion, or particular or group interests." (Arato and Cohen, 571)
In Scott’s 'Domination and the Arts of Resistance – Hidden Transcripts,' there is an Ethiopian proverb he alludes to at the beginning - “When the great lord passes the wise peasant bows deeply and silently farts.†This really does sum up his article, but understanding there must be more analysis of his theory and how it challenges the conventional notion of the public sphere, we’ll continue forward.
In the HBO series John Adams, the second president is portrayed in France as disgusted with the presentation of excess of his hosts while on a political trip. This type of showmanship or onstage appearance “requires that we routinely exchange pleasantries and smile at others about whom we may harbor an estimate not in keeping without public performance.†(Scott, 1)
Scott makes clear the difference between the public transcript and the hidden transcript. He also issues the proclamation that the hidden transcript being made public is necessary for drastic change towards the, in the words of Cohan and Arato, “utopian core of the radical democratic project.â€
As understood in interpersonal communication studies, the public as a whole has hidden transcripts and public transcripts or on and off stage presentation. This deals with face and how we as individuals go about saving face. For the public in its entirety, there are two ways class structures communicate. Public transcripts are open and public interactions between dominators and the oppressed are basically euphemistic or made digestible, not detestable. The pill is easy to swallow as long as it’s laced with sugar. The critique of power that takes place off stage when power holders are not present is the hidden transcript. “[T]he greater the disparity in power between dominant and subordinate and the more arbitrarily it is exercised, the more the public transcript of subordinates will take on a stereotyped, ritualistic cast.†(Scott, 3) If stakes are high for society (loss of life, money, property, and freedom) then the public’s mask is thick.
Let me be sure not to confuse the fact that there are hidden transcripts on either side of the class scale. The powerful rulers have hidden transcripts contaminated with detest for their subjects, and vice versa. Public transcripts of the elite are meant to preserve power and prevent ridicule, for threats to power and ridicule could pose problems for their control over increased neo-liberal (securing rights of corporations) progression towards globalization. The other side, as a slave does to his master behind his back, struggles with being taken advantage of.
Theories of the public sphere learned up to this point through course material and class discussion cannot involve resistance or rebellion. Sometimes strife in the public sphere breeds perlocution, not illocution. On the flipside – hidden transcripts are not in the public sphere. Social movements working offstage have no filter, which can unleash raw emotions and uncensored positions and possibilities.
Cultivation of true revolutionary change, however, can only take place if the oppressed make their hidden transcript public. This challenges the conventional notion of the public sphere by shattering social norms. There is no way to heal the fatal wound to public trust unless grievances are made known and clear. Obviously the hidden transcript no longer becomes unseen when it is made openly available to all, sometimes in defiance of laws and norms.
A movement I see as being powerful in the past, present, and future for the public sphere is the Truth Movement. This movement may have been with us since the end of the Second World War, but has excelled with each major event up to the current financial crisis. For me, I have noticed this faction of free-thinkers in the past 5 years since becoming politically conscious. The ideas espoused by the Truth Movement are considered of the fringe, but it encompasses all across the terrain of politics.
In my own experience, the situationism only takes you so far before you offend, bore, or confuse the audience. There are some definite points to take from the situationism mentality, and that is the element of surprise. For the truth movement to get noticed there must be a moment, an epiphany, for the mass to see what is being presented by the fringe.
Without the truth squads slaving away to unshackle minds around the world with the tool of seeking the truth in all things, it would be hard to find the fringe. There would not be a dissenting opinion. The state would order the truth to be told through commissions and reports and think-tanks. They wouldn’t want the truth to be reported to the body from individuals securing their liberty and freedom.
By “waking†people up, as it is termed by the movement, the public sphere and the private citizens found within, rediscover the urgency for accountability and action. This can be accomplished through communicative action, or ideas being facilitated though individuals inciting achievement for freedom.
Imagine, as I am sure you can, a classless society of monotony; people waiting in line to be given the bread, the substance, the word necessary for life. This world is bland and lifeless, but great for control over society. The water for the cactus in this world is stagnant and infected. The only colors are grey and a dull blue with the occasional red for ketchup and blood.
The Truth Movement is active in the public sphere. But they can be more active. A problem this social movement has with the public sphere is the lack of acceptance by the public sphere. Impacting the public sphere through alternative media, localized politics, active investigation and staunch classic conservatism of limited government, I see as being very powerful in maintaining, if not accelerating the ideas of Democracy. Even our concepts of Democracy must be checked at the door and allowed to give more power to a minority opinion. This can’t be fixed by technology, only facilitated. Be it the end the fed rallies, the 9/11 truth squad, or even the UFO movement (even they have a valid argument about government secrecy), the truth movement has power to make us think for ourselves, even in its infancy.
