ABSTRACT
Only after the publication of The Structural Transformation does Habermas begin to clarify the nature and the extent of his differences with the later Adorno and Horkheimer. The disagreements are fundamental, encompassing differing accounts of the tasks of a contemporary critical theory as well as distinct analyses of significant sociological trends in capitalist democracies. We have seen that the relatively unthematized character of these differences with the older generation of the Frankfurt School had left its mark in some major conceptual tensions within The Structural Transformation. At this early stage, Habermas was neither completely reconciled to the way that Adorno and Horkheimer had conceived the contemporary character of critical theory nor yet ready to formulate the terms of a clear and unequivocal break.
