3. The Commercial Public Sphere

This chapter discusses the development of urban publics, especially in Paris. It begins with an interpretation of Jürgen Habermas’s work on the public sphere. I argue that most historical accounts of the public sphere have underplayed the crucial role Habermas assigns to capitalism in the public sphere’s evolution. I survey the development of urban publics devoted to print culture, theater, music, fine arts, cafés, restaurants, and shopping. I argue that urban publics, which were relatively anonymous and commercially mediated, were a feature of eighteenth-century capitalism that made urban life more socially open and egalitarian.