The Theory of Communicative Action：(Vol. 2) Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason

JuergenHabermasopensVolume2withabrilliantreinterpretationofMeadandDurkheimandthendevelopshisownapproachtosociety，combiningtwohithertocompetingparadigms，"system"and"lifeworld."ThestrengthofthiscombinationisthendemonstratedinadetailedcritiqueofParsons'stheoryofsocialsystems.ConcludingwithacriticalreconstructionoftheWeberanandMarxiantreatmentofmodernityanditsdiscontents，Habermassetsanewagendaforthecriticaltheoryofcontemporarysociety.Thecombinationofhistoricalandtheoreticalsweep，analyticalacumenandsyntheticpower，imaginationandengagementmarkthisasoneofthegreatworksoftwentieth-centurysocialtheory.