Towards the (Re)Making of Public Space?

Simon Susen (2026)

Berlin Journal of Critical Theory, 10(1). Open access

Abstract. This article provides a critical analysis of Luc Boltanski and Arnaud Esquerre’s The Making of Public Space: News, Events and Opinions in the Twenty-First Century (2025 [2022]). While their earlier work, Enrichment: A Critique of Commodities (2020 [2017]), is situated within economic sociology, their latest book – originally published as Qu’est-ce que l’actualité politique? Événements et opinions au XXIe siècle (2022) – marks a significant shift towards political sociology, broadly conceived. The article contends that The Making of Public Space represents a highly original contribution that will further consolidate the considerable influence of Boltanski and Esquerre’s collaborative work on cutting-edge debates and research agendas in the contemporary social sciences. In particular, the book makes a strong case for examining the relationship between processes of ‘turning into current affairs’ [processus de mise en actualité] and processes of politicization [processus de politisation]. The analysis is structured in two main parts. The first part summarizes the central arguments advanced by Boltanski and Esquerre in The Making of Public Space. The second part offers a careful assessment of the book’s principal limitations and suggests possible ways to address them.

Extract. “Given the thematic focus of their study, it is not surprising that the concept of public space [espace public] is central to Boltanski and Esquerre’s investigation. The two authors make it clear, however, that their analysis is not founded on a ‘normative definition of public space’ or attached to a particular political philosophy. Rather, their approach is inspired by the bottom-up spirit of the ‘pragmatic sociology of critique’. In accordance with this outlook, Boltanski and Esquerre are committed to shedding light on ‘the implicit notions underlying the competences that people draw on in order to act’ when navigating everyday life. Far from treating these competencies as transcendental faculties, removed from the experiential realms of spatiotemporal contingencies, Boltanski and Esquerre regard them as ‘historically and socially situated ontologies’.” (p. 8)

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OpenEdition vous propose de citer ce billet de la manière suivante :
GdL (22 janvier 2026). Towards the (Re)Making of Public Space? Économie des conventions. Consulté le 9 février 2026 à l’adresse https://doi.org/10.58079/15js0