The Problematic Public: Lippmann, Dewey, and Democracy in the Twenty-First Century

Almost one hundred years have passed since Walter Lippmann and John Dewey published their famous reflections on the “problems of the public,” but their thoughts remain surprisingly relevant as resources for thinking through our current crisis-plagued predicament. This book takes stock of the reception history of Lippmann’s and Dewey’s ideas about publics, communication, and political decision-making and shows how their ideas can inspire a way forward. Lippmann and Dewey were only two of many twentieth-century thinkers trying to imagine how a modern industrial democracy might (or might not) come to pass, but despite that, the “Lippmann/Dewey debate” became a symbol of the two alleged options: an epistocracy, on the one hand, and grassroots participation, on the other. In this book, distinguished scholars from rhetoric, communication, sociology, and media and journalism studies reconsider this debate in order to assess its contemporary relevance for our time, which, in some respects, bears a striking resemblance to the 1920s. In this way, the book explains how and why Lippmann and Dewey are indispensable resources for anyone concerned with the future of democratic deliberation and decision-making. In addition to the editor, the contributors to this volume include Nathan Crick, Robert Danisch, Steve Fuller, William Keith, Bruno Latour, John Durham Peters, Patricia Roberts-Miller, Michael Schudson, Anna Shechtman, Slavko Splichal, Lisa S. Villadsen, and Scott Welsh.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments Introduction: Lippmann, Dewey, and Democracy in a Hailstorm Kristian Bjørkdahl 1 A “Constituency of Intangibles”: Walter Lippmann’s Plea for a Better Democracy Michael Schudson 2 The Lippmann/Lippmann Debate: What Role Do Social Movements Play in Democratic Politics? Nathan Crick 3 From the Illusions of Democracy to the Realities of Its Appearances Bruno Latour 4 Debates Conjured, Debates Forgotten Anna Shechtman and John Durham Peters 5 Societal Embedding of the Lippmann/Dewey Debate: From Opinion Expression to Opinion Polling and Mining Slavko Splichal 6 The Lippmann/Dewey Debate in the History of Twentieth-Century Progressivism Steve Fuller 7 Propaedeutic Rhetorical Citizenship: Deweyan Impulses in Danish Community-Building Lisa S. Villadsen 8 A Public and Its Solutions: Lippmann and Dewey Through the Prism of Norwegian Social Democracy Kristian Bjørkdahl 9 Democracy Now: Recovering the Political Pragmatism of Walter Lippmann and John Dewey Scott Welsh 10 Democratic Deliberation, Identity, and Information Patricia Roberts-Miller 11 Rhetorical Sociology and the Management of Public Discourse Robert Danisch and William Keith List of Contributors Index