Dissertation Project: Public Sphere and Public Communication in Revolutions
About the project:
In the context of ongoing digitalization, key topics in Communication Studies have increasingly become a focal point of public debate. Contemporary discussions frequently revolve around phenomena such as fake news, alternative facts, echo chambers, and filter bubbles. At their core, however, these debates engage with a more fundamental sociological question: How is society transformed and stabilized through the production, dissemination, and interpretation of information? This central inquiry forms the theoretical and empirical foundation of the present dissertation project, which examines the dynamics of the public sphere and public communication during revolutionary periods.
The primary objective of the project is to develop a broad, theoretically robust, and generalizable framework for understanding the public sphere and public communication in complex, high-stakes societal situations—particularly during revolutions. Building on this theoretical foundation, a systematic research model for analyzing the public sphere will be developed and subsequently applied to two pivotal revolutionary episodes in German history: the Revolutions of 1848–49 and 1918–19. By situating the analysis within both a revolutionary epicenter and a relatively tranquil location, the project enables a comparative, diachronic examination of how public communication unfolds under conditions of societal upheaval.
Theoretical Framework:
The theoretical foundation of the project is grounded in a systematic integration of key social science theories. Central to this framework are Niklas Luhmann’s Theory of social systems, which provides a conceptual basis for understanding revolutions as phases of heightened complexity marked by the opening and closing of contingency, and the arena model of the public sphere developed by sociologists Jürgen Gerhards and Friedhelm Neidhardt. These theoretical perspectives are further enriched by insights from information theory, theories of media effects and media use, and processes of thematization. This multidisciplinary approach ensures a comprehensive and theoretically coherent foundation for analyzing the interplay between societal complexity, media communication, and public discourse.
Empirical Analysis:
The theoretically derived research model is empirically tested through a content-analytical examination of mass media sources from two historical case studies: Bamberg during the Revolutions of 1848–49 and Bamberg during the Revolution of 1918–19. Bamberg is selected as a comparative case due to its distinct roles in both periods—serving as a revolutionary hub in 1848/49 and as a relatively quiet regional center in 1918/19. This allows for a nuanced analysis of how the public sphere functions under varying degrees of political and social turbulence.
The empirical dataset comprises 1,840 newspaper articles from the 1848–49 period and 2,894 articles from 1918–19, all sourced from local press archives. The analysis focuses on the thematic content, discursive strategies, and structural features of public communication during these transformative moments. Notably, the research model is designed to be methodologically flexible, allowing for the integration of additional source types—such as pamphlets, speeches, or private correspondence—should future extensions of the project require them.
Summary of Key Contributions:
- A theoretical conceptualization of revolutions as phases of intensified societal complexity and contingent openness.
- A theory-driven, interdisciplinary research model for analyzing the public sphere and public communication in crisis contexts.
- A broad theoretical foundation integrating systems theory, public sphere theory, information theory, media effects, and thematization processes.
- A diachronic, comparative empirical study of public communication in two revolutionary periods.
- A dual-case analysis of the public sphere in both a revolutionary center (Bamberg, 1848–49) and a relatively stable location (Bamberg, 1918–19).
The findings of this dissertation are expected to contribute not only to historical communication research but also to contemporary debates on the resilience, transformation, and reconfiguration of the public sphere in the face of digital media, political polarization, and societal disruption.
Publication:
This dissertation project was published in 2020 under the title “Öffentlichkeit in unsicheren Zeiten. Zur Analyse öffentlicher Kommunikation in Revolutionen." by the Herbert von Halem Verlag as the twelfth volume in the series “Öffentlichkeit und Geschichte” (“Public Sphere and History”). The publication was supported by the Ludwig Delp Foundation.