Date: Mon, 24 Jan 2000 14:21:44 -0800
From: Eduardo Mendieta <mendietae-AT-usfca.edu>
Subject: Re: HAB: Habermas and exclusion of minority groups



Habermas actually has written a fair amount on the problem of the exclusion of
racial, ethnic, and religious minorities. He has done so in his political
writings, what in german they publish under the titles of Kleiner politische
Schriften. I am thinking of the last three:

Vergangenheit als Zukunft...the Past as Future...excellently translated by Max
Pensky
Normalitaet ein Berliner Republik ---A Berliner Republic
Postnationale Konstellations --The Postnational Constellation --forthcoming
from Polity

I reviewed the first two titles in Peace Review (if you need an overview of
the
books and their importance)

Throughout these three books you will find reference to his idea that such
exclusions are not only unacceptable from the moral standpoint, but also from
the standpoint of law, and democracy. Hence his idea about a referendum on
unification, but also on shifting the grounds for citizenship in
Germany...Here
his idea of constitutional patriotism is fundamental.

Theoretically, of course, the articulation is in Between Fact and Norms, more
specifically the two appendixes, pages 463 ff. But sections 3.1, 3.2, and 3.3
are even more theoretically abstract, but also more astute and formal
articulations of Habermas's rejection of any time of exclusion....

More recent discussions are to be found in his collection

The Inclusion of the Other (MIT Press, 1999), especifically where he is
responding to Rawls. You might also want to check  his discussion in "The
Meaning of the 20th Century" in Constellations, Vol 5.No. 3 (1998):307-320,
where Habermas in essence suggests that we have to globalize the welfare state
so as to prevent problems of economic exclusion from leading to political
exclusions that lead to catastrophic consequences for democracies around the
world.

Actually, the more i think about it, he also has some references to the
problem
of exclusion/inclusion in his essay on Kant's Eternal Peace, translated in a
book edited by J. Bohman and Lutz-Bachman.

For now, enough to chew on.

By the way, the german title of Habermas's habilitation is "Structural
Transformation of the Public Sphere" Offenlichkeit means publicness, public,
and should absolutely not be confused with "intimate sphere"





At 03:53 PM 1/24/00 -0600, you wrote: 
>
>>
>> I struggling to make sense of how Habermas would fit exclusion of minority
>> groups such as immigrants and, in the most extreme version, bag people.
>> Considering Strukturwandel der ffentlichkeit, i find it to be a symptom of
>> excessive colonisation of the intimate sphere (i'm not sure of the english
>> translation of the terms) by the structural spheres such as the economic
and
>> the personal. 
>> Am i on the right track? 
>> Does he describe the problem of exclusion in any articles? 
>>
>> Thank you 
>> J.S.Pedersen 
>>
>> Dear    J.S., 
>
>
>
>         There are at least two ways to think about Habermas and the issue of
> exclusion. I am not sure exactly what you are after, so i will touch briefly
> on both approaches. 
>
>         First, where does Habermas himself discuss the problem of exclusion,
> and who/what is the mechanism of exclusion?  I think your assumptions about
> 'colonization' are accurate but it is a phenomenon that is not limited to
the
> intimisphere.  If you look at Legitimation Crisis, which comes a little
later
> than Strukturwandel ... you'll find him articulating a theory of 'exclusion'
> (in some sense) where the state and the market colonize or undermine other
> institutions.  This creates a number of 'crisis tendencies' in the society;
> people don't believe in the system, they see how corrupt it is, they don't
> want to work anymore, they care only for themselves and do not extend
> solidarity to others, etc, and they drop out or become cynical or apathetic.
> I think he is talking here of exclusion of 'the public' rather than of
> minority groups, but you might be able to see how different groups are
> adversely affected by certain aspects of colonization.   
>
> I think that Habermas continues this basic of theme colonization and
> exclusion at least up through Theory of Coommunicative Action, Vols 1 and
2. 
> See his reinterpretation of Weber and of Durkheim especially. 
>
>         Now, there is a second question that one might ask; Are Habermas's
> responses to what he class colonization, his theories about Discourse Ethics
> and Law, also exclusionary?  Are minorities and members of the working class
> in any way excluded from participation in Discourses about society or law? 
>
> Many have taken this question up.  If you are asking about this, then see
> Axel Honneth's, Essays in Social and Political Philosophy, especially
chapters
> 10 and 12.     
>
> There is a recent book out-- maybe someone can help me remember the
title-- a
> collection of essays that touch on issues of marginalization and exclusion. 
>
> Tony Lack 
>
>
>      
>>
>> --- from list habermas-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu --- 
>
>


Eduardo Mendieta
Assistant Professor
Philosophy Department
University of San Francisco
2130 Fulton Street
San Francisco, CA 94117-1080

Tel: (415) 422-6313
Fax: (415) 422-2346

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