Public and Private in Social Life

Conceptions of publicness and privateness structure not only our thinking about society and ourselves, but also, by structuring our institutions and practices, dictate how we act within society. Originally published in 1983, the complexity inherent in the distinction between public and private is explored fully in this book.

Opening chapters examine the familiar western liberal understanding of the public and the private; how it reflects not always coherent ideas about the relation of indivi...