From Socialism to “Sentiment”: Toward a Political Economy of Communities, Counterpublics, and Their Media Through Jewish Working Class History

Although counterpublics have been well theorized by N. Fraser (1992) and M. Warner (2002), little research has been carried out along the lines of J. Habermas's (1962/1989/1991) original study, examining their “structural transformation.” Working class history might be used as a method to understand the interaction between the state-corporate nexus and counterpublics. Through an overview of Jewish working-class history in the United States, I demonstrate that counterpublics and their media are shaped in relation to the state and commercial interests, and community activity. I argue that attention to the role of community, as conceived by J. Dewey (1927/1954), might help us move (counter)public sphere theory away from a Eurocentric and toward a humanocentric (S. Gunaratne, 2005, 2006) framework.