Habermas defines the public sphere as a “society engaged in critical public debate”. Conditions of the public sphere are according to Habermas: The formation of public opinion. All citizens have access.

For Habermas, the private sphere is a primarily about autonomy: “a sphere of bourgeois society which would stand apart from the state as a genuine area of private autonomy” (51). This is the area of family, exchange, and even work that revolves around individuals, not institutions.