Sentence:  In order to grant the rich these pleasures, the social contract is reconfigured. [...]  The <WSD>public</WSD> realm is privatised, the regulations restraining the ultra-wealthy and the companies they control are abandoned, and Edwardian levels of inequality are almost fetishised. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Pertaining to the people as a whole (as opposed to a private group); concerning the whole country, community etc. (from 15th c.)