the private sphere does not define privacy

O'Hara, Kieron

doi:10.7765/9781526163042.003.0022

Chapter

Level 5 topic: the private sphere does not define privacy

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https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526163042.003.0022

Pages

267–272

Published:

July 2023

Abstract

Social interaction has been divided by commentators into three areas: the legitimate arena for state interference, the public sphere, where private citizens interact on an equal basis to influence and form a public opinion, and a private sphere, where individuals and families conduct their own affairs without interference from outsiders, a refuge from the artificiality and complexity of public life. While the state’s role is partly defined by law, the distinction between the public and private sphere is norm-based. These spheres have often been gendered, with the private sphere seen as a women’s space and the public sphere reserved for men. Some, such as Stanley Benn, have seen these sphere-defining norms as helping define privacy itself. However, as Nissenbaum and Habermas have argued, the norms are rarely straightforward binaries. The interests of property, for instance, can be seen as hybrid between the two. The private sphere has been defined: as whatever is not public; as the non-governmental sphere; in terms of the information passed between its occupants; in terms of enumerated lists of activities; in terms of the household. However, none of these is satisfactory, and the pressures on the private sphere are growing. Even arguments within liberalism threaten to open up the household to public scrutiny. Meanwhile, one can lack privacy in a private space, or have it ‘in public’. The chapter argues that it is simpler to accept that privacy breaches happen in all spheres, even while certain areas of life are treated as ‘private’ by social norms.

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Level 5 topic: the private sphere does not define privacy

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