Nancy Fraser’s Critique of Habermas’s Bourgeois Public Sphere and the Decolonial Challenge

Abstract

This study explores Habermas’ conception of the public sphere and examines its limitations through Nancy Fraser's critique of its bourgeois essence and its assumptions regarding ethical neutrality and procedural discourse, as well as the resulting gender, class, and racial exclusion. The study questions the compatibility of this conception with the challenges of multiculturalism and mass democracy, and the validity of Fraser's solutions, such as “participatory parity” and competing public spheres (counterpublics). The study adopts a critical methodology that goes beyond Fraser’s critique to problematize the model through an epistemic lens that challenges the hegemony of the epistemology of the colonial North, without abandoning the concept of the public sphere.