ABSTRACT
The Theory of Communicative Action was published in 1981 in two volumes. In this majestic, dense, seemingly interminable synthesis Habermas presents thirty years of thought and research. Although Habermas analyses the work of Weber, Lukács and critical theory at length, as well as the thought of Durkheim, Mead, and Parsons, The Theory of Communicative Action is not a historical commentary on general sociology. Through the theory of communicative action, Habermas pursues the old critical theory program that sought to diagnose the contemporary era with a view to emancipation, but this time he formulates it on a solid normative and communicative basis.
