Audiences, public knowledge and citizenship in democratic states: preliminary thoughts on a conceptual framework

Abstract

This essay attempts to present a theoretical frame with which to examine media audiences in relation to participation in practices of deliberative democracy. Crucial to this, it is argued, are the ideas of mediated knowledge and representation and inequality of access to symbolic resources and cultural capital, both of which are essential to the conception of democratic dialogue and debate that constitute public spheres. These ideas are explored using a hermeneutic notion of the public sphere, and are illustrated through a brief examination of consumerism and citizenship in contemporary India.