The publicity of new medium becomes the hot academic topic as the technology of web2.0
renew the form of social interaction. Most studies turned to the theoretical framework of Jurgen
Habermas for analysis and almost neglect the perspective of Hannah Arendt. The most important difference between the two theories is that Habermas’s thought can not escape the pattern of
means-end which is totally transcended in Arendt’s theory. To put it more clearly, Arendt’s theory
gives an emphasis on the plurality of action which means the self-performance of people. In
this sense, people can get involved in the world and attach their meaning to it. Under today’s
circumstance, Arendt’s theory inspires us to ask a new question: does diversity and difference
brought by the new media really equal the plurality of action? This paper investigates the
intertwined relationship between “publicity” and “privacy” in the internet space based on Arendt’s analysis of the distinction between “publicity” and “the social”, and transforms the definition of“the social” from the sense of “content” to the sense of “metaphor” so as to analysis the three different types of the network platform. Through exploring, this paper gives a negative answer to the following question.
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Whether We are Worldly through New Medium Usage? : From the Social and Political Theory of Arendt. Chinese Journal of Journalism & Communication. 2021, 43(10): 98-119