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Audiobook edition · 6 h 12 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What happens to democracy when shared problems grow too vast for citizens to see clearly?
In The Public and Its Problems, John Dewey asks how ordinary people can govern themselves in a world of giant firms, railways, telegraphs and mass newspapers. Walter Lippmann doubts that voters can know enough to judge modern affairs. Dewey accepts much of the problem, but rejects government left to experts.
Dewey begins with the consequences people share: the effects of actions that reach beyond those directly involved. From there, he explores how a public forms, what a state is for, and why democratic machinery alone is not enough. The central challenge is how people find one another, understand their common problems and act together.
What you’ll discover
- How a public forms Follow Dewey from private actions to shared consequences that call people into public life.
- A state worth questioning Explore why the state must be remade rather than treated as a settled answer.
- Democracy beyond its machinery Consider why the machinery of government is a means, not democracy’s final goal.
- The public in shadow See how trade, travel and giant firms connect people while obscuring their shared problems.
- Communication and common life Discover why better inquiry, discussion and persuasion matter to Dewey’s idea of the Great Community.
Who will love it
This book suits readers who ask how democracy really works, and who want a thinker from a century ago to sharpen their view of news, voting, experts, and neighborhoods today.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- The public has gone missing
- Political ideas help shape political facts
- Shared consequences bring a public together
- Changing conditions require changing political forms
- Connection alone does not create community
- Democracy cannot assume fully informed citizens
- Inquiry needs communication people can feel
- Experts must work with public experience
- Public life requires continuing shared inquiry
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The Public and Its Problems
by John Dewey · 1927
Dewey asks why a democracy full of officials, laws, and parties cannot find its own public.
Challenging2–5 hours to read2 languages
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In short
Why do so many citizens stay home on election day, even as governments pass more laws than ever? John Dewey asked this in the 1920s, when only about half of eligible Americans voted.
The Public and Its Problems at a glance
- Reading time
- About 3 h 25 min2 h 40 min fast, 4 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 48,700 words
- Library level
- Challenging long sentences, a rich vocabulary
- First published
- 1927by John Dewey
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
Facts and theories of the state cannot be separated
Dewey begins with a puzzle. Political facts are easy to list, since kings, presidents, and judges all do things we can observe. Yet theories of the state clash wildly. One says it is the highest form of shared life, another that it is organized oppression.
A simple remedy seems available. Keep only verified facts. Dewey says this cannot work, because political facts exist partly because people hold beliefs about them, and those habits change when beliefs change. Legislators and judges act on a theory, and their decisions then change the facts that follow.
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- 15-minute summary
- The key ideas of the whole book in about 13 minutes. A good first look, or a refresher.
Details
- First published
- 1927
- Language
- English
- Reading time
- 4 h 0 min
- Level
- Challenging
Cite this edition
Dewey, John. The Public and Its Problems. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-public-and-its-problems.
Dewey, J. (2026). The public and its problems. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-public-and-its-problems (Original work published 1927)
Dewey, John. The Public and Its Problems. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-public-and-its-problems.
@book{dewey2026public,
author = {Dewey, John},
title = {The Public and Its Problems},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-public-and-its-problems},
note = {First published 1927}
}
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What is The Public and Its Problems about?
It asks what a public is, how it becomes a state, and why modern democracy seems to have lost its public. Dewey argues that industry created vast, hidden connections between people, and that shared inquiry and communication must form the public anew.
What does Dewey mean by the public?
The public is all the people indirectly and seriously affected by the consequences of other people's actions, to the point that those consequences need regular care. It becomes a state when it organizes itself through officials who look after those shared interests.
What is the Great Community in Dewey's book?
It is Dewey's name for a society where people understand and share the wide consequences of their joint action. The Great Society of rail, wire, and trade already exists, but it becomes a community only through full communication and inquiry.
The author
John Dewey
1859–1952 · American philosopher and educational reformer
John Dewey (1859–1952) was an American philosopher, psychologist, and educational reformer. He was born in Burlington, Vermont, and died in New York City. He taught at the University of Chicago and Columbia University. His books include How We Think (1910), Democracy and Education (1916), and Human Nature and Conduct (1922).
More by John Dewey
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