Subjects or citizens? The economic royal societies and the changes in the communication system

Abstract

Assuming the thesis of Manheim and Habermas about the role of associations at the Enlightment times changing the public sphere (“Öffentlichkeit”), we study, under the perspective of the Economic Societies established in south Andalusia, the relationships between reformist absolutism in the second half of the 18th century and the constitution of a public sphere in wich subjects where considered as citizens. We may conclude that a change has been noted in the region of Cadiz-Jerez de la Frontera because of the particular socio-economical, political and cultural conditions of this area, and continuity in the way to conceive social stratification was found in areas far from the Bahia de Cadiz.