Reconstructing social spaces: The rhetoric of the public/ private split

The article deals with the public/private distinction as a hidden spatialization that regulates the social. It looks at restructurations of the distinction; at changes and their political consequences in terms of ongoing rhetorical boundary work. The naming or coding of something as public or private is in itself a cultured process. The distinction is used in various meanings and within multiple discursive repertoires. What is named as public or private also varies in time and in space. Although variable and contextual, the coding always carries social value; it structures the societal positions of people. Furthermore, the coding also carries meanings that are not translatable. “Things” do not mean the same in different places. Comparing cultures becomes problematic.