Public and private in thought and practice

Perspectives on a Grand Dichotomy Theses essays illuminate the significance of the public/privat distinction for an increasingly wide range of debates. They address controversies surrounding such issues as abortion, rights, identity politics, and the requirements of democratization, and also clarify crucial proceses that have shaped the culture and isntitutions of modern societies. In contexts ranging form friendship, the family, and personal life to nationalism, democratic citizenship, the role of women in social and poltiical life, and the contrasts between western and (pots-)communist societies, this book brings out the ways the various uses of the public/private distinction are simultaneously distinct and interconnected.