The Theory of Communicative Action (German: Theorie des kommunikativen Handelns) is Jürgen Habermas magnum opus that continues his project set out in On the Logic of the Social Sciences of finding a way to ground "the social sciences in a theory of language."
This project is carried out over two volumes, the two volumes are Reason and the Rationalization of Society, (Handlungsrationalität und gesellschaftliche Rationalisierung) which establishes a concept of communicative rationality, and Lifeworld and System: A Critique of Functionalist Reason, (Zur Kritik der funktionalistischen Vernunft), which creates the two level concept of society and lays out the critical theory for modernity. After these books, Habermas expanded upon the theory of communicative action by using it as the basis of his theory of morality, democracy, and law.
The Theory of Communicative Action was the subject of a collection of critical essays published in 1986, has inspired many responses by social theorists and philosophers, and in 1998 the International Sociological Association listed this work as the eighth most important sociological book of the 20th century.
Read more about The Theory Of Communicative Action: Theory, Theory of Communicative Action Vol. 1, Theory of Communicative Action Vol. 2, See Also
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