The Problematic Public

A fresh look at the Lippman-Dewey debates for 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.

A timely book that provides suggestions on how to engage with the public to stop the decline of liberal democracy around the world.

This volume places the famous debate between Lippmann and Dewey within a broader history of intellectual thought, reevaluating both sides of the exchange and challenging its traditional narrative.

Features contributions from top tier scholars in rhetoric, media, political science, and sociology.

Kristian Bjørkdahl is Associate Professor of Rhetoric in the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Oslo.

Kristian Bjørkdahl is Associate Professor of Rhetoric in the Department of Linguistics and Scandinavian Studies at the University of Oslo.