This paper explores the consequences of the socio-historical exclusion
of women, and of young people, from public life. It is based upon an
empirical study in which depth-interviews were conducted with 96 Brito
ns, male and female and of a younger and an older generation, concerni
ng their private and public lives. Self-proclaimed ignorance is signif
icantly more likely to be found in the interviews of the women rather
than the men, and in those of the younger rather than the older genera
tion. Qualitative analysis reveals that self-proclaimed ignorance is a
ssociated with a sense of distance from public affairs. The various ma
nifestations of distance are discussed in terms of exposure to knowled
ge, the individualistic society's expectations concerning the knowing
''I'', the privatized market economy and the effects of modernity itse
lf.