Jürgen Habermas 
The Theory of Communicative Action 
Reason and the Rationalization of Society, Volume 1

Here, for the first time in English, is volume one of Jurgen
Habermas’s long-awaited magnum opus: The Theory of Communicative
Action. This pathbreaking work is guided by three interrelated
concerns: (1) to develop a concept of communicative rationality
that is no longer tied to the subjective and individualistic
premises of modern social and political theory; (2) to construct a
two-level concept of society that integrates the ‘lifeworld’ and
‘system’ paradigms; and (3) to sketch out a critical theory of
modernity that explains its sociopathologies in a new way.

Habermas approaches these tasks through a combination of
conceptual analyses, systematic reflections, and critical
reconstructions of such predecessors as Marx and Weber, Durkheim
and Mead, Horkheimer and Adorno, Schutz and Parsons. Reason and
the Rationalization of Society develops a sociological theory
of action that stresses not its means-ends or teleological aspect,
but the need to coordinate action socially via communication. In
the introductory chapter Habermas sets out a powerful series of
arguments on such foundational issues as cultural and historical
relativism, the methodology of Verstehen, the inseparabilty of
interpretation from critique. In addition to clarifying the
normative foundations of critical social inquiry, this sets the
stage for a systematic appropriation of Weber’s theory of
rationalization and its Marxist reception by Lukacs, Horkheimer and
Adorno.

This is an important book for degree students of philosophy,
sociology and related subjects.

About the author

Jürgen Habermas is a German philosopher and sociologist in the tradition of critical theory and pragmatism. He is perhaps best known for his theories on communicative rationality and the public sphere. In 2014, Prospect readers chose Habermas as one of their favourites among the ‘world’s leading thinkers’.