The traditional distinction between

The traditional distinction between the public realm and the private
realm conforms to the division between the state and society. The
characteristics of the state are discussed in more detail in the final section
of this chapter, but for the time being the state can be defined as a political
association which exercises sovereign power within a defined territorial
area. In everyday language, the state is often taken to refer to a cluster of
institutions, centring upon the apparatus of government but including the
courts, the police, the army, nationalized industries, the social security
system and so forth. These institutions can be regarded as ‘public’ in the
sense that they are responsible for the collective organisation of community
life and are thus funded at the public’s expense, out of taxation. By
contrast, society consists of a collection of autonomous groups and
associations, embracing family and kinship groups, private businesses,
trade unions, clubs, community groups and the like. Such institutions are
‘private’ in the sense that they are set up and funded by individual citizens
to satisfy their own interests rather than those of the larger society. On the
basis of this ‘public/private’ dichotomy, politics is restricted to the
activities of the state itself and the responsibilities which are properly
exercised by public bodies. Those areas of life in which individuals can and
do manage for themselves – economic, social, domestic, personal, cultural,
artistic and so forth – are therefore clearly ‘non-political’.