Much of the scholarship on the modern public sphere has, following Habermas, focused on arenas of sociability detached from state authority. However, little attention has been given to the ways in which patterns of sociability intrinsic to political institutions facilitated the rise of civil society and a sense of nationhood. This article unpacks various structural dimensions of collective solidarity from the perspective of sociability and publicity by drawing on a key political institution: the state parliament. By exploring the interrelations between the British parliament and the media from the late eighteenth to mid-nineteenth century, the article discusses how parliament aristocratic culture corresponded to a club model structured along horizontal, interpersonal networks but increasingly incorporated qualities of a centralized public event. Shifts in media practices were accompanied by changes in the ways that political actors interacted among themselves and with their audiences. Drawing on the concept of “public intimacy,” namely, the staging of exclusive ties in front of a third party, the article delineates a structural transition in parliament culture from mechanisms of “clubby” public intimacy, which relied on patrician orality and sacred rituals, to “mediated” public intimacy, which was shaped by the institutionalization of gossip journalism. It is suggested that a similar combination of club exclusivity and public event has come to characterize subsequent civic institutions as well as social media. This dual structure helped shape feelings of solidarity as a continuum between personal and collective ties, casting the mass public as a network of confidants and friends.

继哈贝马斯之后，现代公共领域的大部分学术研究都集中在脱离国家权威的社交领域。然而，很少有人关注政治机构固有的社交模式如何促进公民社会和民族意识的兴起。本文利用一个关键的政治机构：州议会，从社交性和公共性的角度揭示了集体团结的各种结构维度。通过探讨 18 世纪末至 19 世纪中叶英国议会与媒体之间的相互关系，本文讨论了议会贵族文化如何对应于沿着水平的人际网络构建的俱乐部模式，但越来越多地融入了集中公共活动的品质。媒体实践的转变伴随着政治行为者之间以及与受众互动方式的变化。本文借鉴“公共亲密关系”的概念，即在第三方面前展现排他性关系，描绘了议会文化从“俱乐部式”公共亲密机制的结构性转变，这种机制依赖于贵族口语和神圣仪式，以“调解”公共亲密关系，这是由八卦新闻制度化塑造的。有人认为，俱乐部排他性和公共活动的类似组合已经成为后来的公民机构和社交媒体的特征。这种双重结构有助于塑造作为个人和集体关系之间连续体的团结感，将大众塑造成一个知己和朋友的网络。