Privacy and publicity as socio-spatial categories

Philosophy

Abstract

In recent decades, there have been changes in research strategies concerning the study of space. It used to be perceived as a motionless «container», a receptacle for people and objects that does not affect social processes in any way, but now reciprocal relations between space and society are recognized. Space affects human behavior, and people transform it in accordance with the economic, political and cultural characteristics of their era. The same approach can be applied to the study of publicity and privacy. The public space is generally understood as an environment open to the public: streets, parks, etc., while the private area is primarily a place of living, a place of family life. Being sociocultural constructs, public and private spaces are not originally specified. In European societies of the Modernity, due to the processes of urbanization and individualization, the need for one’s own accommodation, closed from outsiders, is gradually increasing. Being in a public or private space affects the behavior of a person, who is forced to play a social role in public and can behave naturally in the family circle. The separation of the public and the private in the 19th century is perceived as a dichotomous example of the social order, considered to be natural. There are formed strictly differentiated gender roles that influence the norms of male and female behavior. A man should spend most of his life outside the home, earning money to maintain his family It is a woman’s responsibility to create home comfort and care for children. However, in the modern sense, social constructs of publicity and privacy are not considered «innate» or «natural». Public and private spaces always depend on sociocultural processes and therefore do not have an ontologically determined character.