Is Deliberation a Laudable Goal When Policy is a Done Deal? - The Habermasian Public Sphere and Legitimacy in a Market Era of Education Policymaking

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag

State-mandated public hearings on New York City school-closing proposals provide a lens on diverse policy actors and their deliberations. While opposition is often portrayed as entrenched interests or emotional attachment, content analysis shows testimonies from parents, community and educator leaders contain substantial critiques of closures’ motivations, justifications, and anticipated outcomes. The study argues the hearings fail Habermasian public-sphere criteria and also do not meet Fraser and Dawson’s counterpublic criteria, producing contradictory effects including one school’s successful resistance to closure via neoliberal logic and the state’s own legitimacy interests.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages31

Reading Time1 h 18 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

School closure as a policy choice

Historical context of school closings

Contemporary opposition frames

| education policy analysis archives
A peer-reviewed, independent, open access, multilingual journal | | | --- | --- | | Arizona State University | | | Volume 24 Number 121 December 5, 2016 ISSN 1068-2341 | | Is Deliberation a Laudable Goal When Policy is a Done Deal? The Habermasian Public Sphere and Legitimacy in a Market Era of Education Policymaking Liza N. Pappas Minnesota State University, Mankato United States Pappas, L. N. (2016). Is deliberation a laudable goal when policy is a done deal? The Habermasian public sphere and legitimacy in a market era of education policymaking. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 24(121). [http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v24.2409](http://dx.doi.org/10.14507/epaa.v24.2409) Abstract: The state mandated public hearings concerning school closing proposals in New York City provide a window into a diverse set of policy actors and their deliberations. Opposition to school closures is often cast as entrenched interests, emotional attachment, support for the status quo or at worst negligence. However, content analysis reveals that testimony offered by parent, community, and educator leaders contained a range of substantial critiques of school closing proposals, their motivations, justifications, and expected results. I argue that the hearings did not fully constitute a public sphere by Habermasian criteria, nor a counterpublic by Fraser and Dawson criteria. In fact, the hearings had contradictory effects; one school successfully fought closure by both resisting and reifying neoliberal logic in education policymaking. Some data demonstrates that this school’s market-based argument resonated with state authorities, while other data indicates that this market-based argument coincided with the state’s own interest to defend its legitimacy in policymaking. Keywords: deliberation; public hearings; school closure policy; Habermas; community; race; neoliberalism ¿Una deliberación es un objetivo louvável cuando una política es un acuerdo ya hecho? Unaesfera pública que tiene una legitimidad en una era de mercado de la formulación de políticas educativas Resumen: En cuanto a las auditorías del Estado sobre las propuestas de fechamiento de las escuelasen la ciudad de Nueva York, hay una ventana para un conjunto diverso de atores políticos y sus deliberaciones. Argumento que como audiencias no constituyen totalmente una esfera pública porcriterios de Habermasian, ni un "contrapúblico" por los criterios de Fraser y Dawson. De facto, como audífonos tienen los efectos contradictorios; Una escuela con un éxito no fechado de un año para resistir y reificar una lógica neoliberal en la formulación de políticas educativas. Algunos datos demuestran que el argumento se basa en las autoridades estatales, en tanto que otros datos indican que este argumento se basa en la formulación de políticas. Palabras clave: decisión; audiencias públicas; política de cierre de la escuela; Habermas; comunidad; raza; neoliberalismo A deliberação é um objetivo louvável quando a política é um acordo já feito? A esferapública habermasiana e a legitimidade em uma era de mercado da formulação de políticas educacionais Resumo: As audiências públicas do Estado sobre as propostas de fechamento de escolas na cidade de Nova York fornecem uma janela para um conjunto diverso de atores políticos e suas deliberações. Argumento que as audiências não constituíram totalmente uma esfera pública pelos critérios de Habermasian, nem um “contra-público” pelos critérios de Fraser e Dawson. De fato, as audiências tiveram efeitos contraditórios; uma escola lutou com êxito no fechamento daquele ano por resistir e reificar a lógica neoliberal na formulação de políticaseducacionais. Alguns dados demonstram que o argumento baseado em mercado desta escola ressoou com as autoridades estatais, enquanto outros dados indicam que esse argumentobaseado no mercado coincidiu com o próprio interesse do Estado em defender sua legitimidade na formu

FAQs

What policy context does the paper focus on?

The paper examines state-mandated public hearings about school-closing proposals in New York City and how policy actors deliberated around them.

What do content analyses of the hearings reveal about opposition?

Testimonies from parents, community leaders, and educator leaders included substantial critiques of motivations, justifications, and expected outcomes rather than only emotional or status-quo arguments.

How does the paper assess the hearings using Habermasian and Fraser/Dawson criteria?

It argues the hearings do not fully constitute a public sphere by Habermasian criteria, nor a counterpublic by Fraser and Dawson criteria.

Oct 15, 2026

Uploaded by ahduag