This article examines the problem of the public and the private in terms of culture and social organization. Two strategies for building societal structures are distinguished: the bottom-up and the top-down. More specifically, the liberal and the Marxist-Leninist solutions are discussed. It is claimed that only in the first case is the term "public interest" meaningful, although some elements in the organization of the liberal social order undermine the cultural norms and values of public life. The cultural aspect is examined in terms of value systems supportive of the public life and of the concept of a middle class, interpreted as a category of political anthropology, embodying its cultural ethos.
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