The main purpose of this paper is to assess the validity of the contention that, over the past few decades, the public sphere has undergone a new structural transformation. To this end, the analysis focuses on Habermas’s recent inquiry into the causes and consequences of an allegedly ‘new’ or ‘further’ [erneuten] structural transformation of the political public sphere. The paper is divided into two parts. The first part considers the central arguments in support of the ‘new structural transformation of the public sphere’ thesis, shedding light on its historical, political, economic, technological, and sociological aspects. The second part offers some reflections on the most important limitations and shortcomings of Habermas’s account, especially with regard to key social developments in the early twenty-first century. The paper concludes by positing that, although the constitution of the contemporary public sphere is marked by major—and, in several respects, unprecedented—structural transformations, their significance should not be overstated, not least due to the enduring role of critical capacity in highly differentiated societies.

本文的主要目的是评估过去几十年来公共领域经历了新的结构转型这一论点的有效性。为此，分析的重点是哈贝马斯最近对政治公共领域所谓的“新的”或“进一步的”结构转型的原因和后果的调查。本文分为两部分。第一部分考虑支持“公共领域新结构转型”命题的核心论点，阐明其历史、政治、经济、技术和社会学方面。第二部分对哈贝马斯的叙述中最重要的局限性和缺点进行了一些反思，特别是关于二十一世纪初的关键社会发展。本文的结论是，尽管当代公共领域的构成以重大的——而且在某些方面是前所未有的——结构性变革为标志，但它们的重要性不应被夸大，尤其是因为批判能力在高度的公共领域中发挥着持久的作用。差异化的社会。