Disorganising the public?

Abstract

Despite their centrality to Western modernity, ideas and institutions of the public have been challenged by recent social, political and eco-nomic transformations. Although neo-liberalism is usually seen as the central force, driving process such as privatization, deregulation and the withdrawal of the state, this article argues that the tendencies and transitions in publicness are heterogeneous. It explores this heteroge-neity by examining four different aspects of the disorganisation of the public: organizational, occupational, social and spatial. The article con-cludes by reflecting on three different approaches to this question of het-erogeneity: a distinction between real and superficial changes; a view of disorganisation as a political strategy; and a conjunctural view of hetero-geneity as the outcome of multiple forces, tendencies and projects