Though Habermas' main concern in The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere was to expose what he regarded as the deceptive nature of free institutions in the West, his book had a major effect on the historiography of the French Revolution.
Obzirom da je Habermasova glavna briga u ovom delu bila da razotkrije šta smatra varljivom prirodom slobodnih institucija na Zapadu, njegova knjiga je imala veliki uticaj na istoriografiju Francuske revolucije.