A New View of Participation: Participation in Public Spheres

Abstract

This chapter provides a theoretical framework and practical advice for conducting a critical participatory action research project. It presents a new view of what ‘participation’ means in critical participatory action research, drawing on Jurgen Habermas’s notions of ‘communicative action’, ‘communicative space’, and the ‘public sphere’. Communicative action is what happens when people stop to consider what is happening in their situation, and strive for intersubjective agreement about the language and ideas they use, mutual understanding of one another’s perspectives, and unforced consensus about what to do. Communicative action happens when a group collectively creates a communicative space in which all are free to express their points of view. The group also agrees to be disciplined about being inclusive in order to open up a public sphere. Public spheres are actual networks of communication amongst participants who volunteer to participate in changing practices that create a sense of unease—a legitimation deficit or crisis. Participants construct public spheres to create conditions to open up communicative space in order to engage in communicative action.