Abstract

ORTEGA, Francisco A. The Conceptual Universe of the Public: Republic, Plebs, Publicity and Population. Rev. colomb. antropol. [online]. 2015, vol.51, n.1, pp.191-216. ISSN 0486-6525.

In this essay, I address the multiple experiences of the public (such as public policy, public health, public opinion or the publics), many of which we experience in a fragmented manner, as if these experiences of the public had no relation to each other. However, my premise is that what initially appears as a non-cohering adjective -the public in, for instance, public policy- might be understood in a comprehensive and innovative way when we unearth its shared semantics articulated by the substantive -the public. Furthermore, such nucleation of meanings around the noun allows us to conceive critical and innovative forms of response to a society historically polarized by social inequalities and violence, with elevated processes of bureaucratization and high levels of corruption and inefficiency, which is intimately connected to the global economy.

Keywords : public; republic; people; plebs; public opinion; population.

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