The+Tasks+of+a+Critical+Theory+of+Society


 * =Title= || The Tasks of a Critical Theory of Society ||
 * =Author= || J. Habermas ||
 * =Date= || 02/24/2011 ||
 * =Summary By= || Efe ||
 * =Summary= || (One quick disclaimer, after talking with PTJ about Habermas, I feel like I have been misinterpreting his work....Oh well- still, I will just focus on this article, rather than trying to place him in [|Enlightenmen]t framework. The choice is pretty much based on 'necessity' -that I do not know enough about the Enlightenment to discuss Habermas within the framework- than on careful consideration. Anyhow, reason/rationality good, everything else bad)


 * Communicative action**: This is how individuals engage in a collaborative attempt of deliberation and argumentation. One side always 'wins'. There is also a tendency to use strategic action - which is more about influencing and manipulating than argumentation. (The short discussion I had with PTJ was over the end result of a communicative action. Are we looking at a Hegelian dialectic here? Or, do we just agree to something? Or is there a systematic miscommunication? Also, after what Habermas did to Risse, I am afraid to say anything about him.)


 * Critical theory:** Communicative action as a critical theory criticizes both social sciences and social reality.

Functionalist mode of investigation cannot really understand the social and action based components of social life. Systems-theoretical approach is reductionist. Action-theoretical approach is interpretive to an extent that things are subjective and accidential. Structural differentiation does not make distinction between lifeworld aspects/systemic aspects.

Then critical theory comes to 'save the day'. Habermas takes historical materialism understanding (and I believe this is why communicative action might sound similar to a Hegelian dialectic understanding. Though, this is just my personal interpretation) and emancipates it from its categorical boundaries.

He assumes that 'a considerable rationalized lifeworld is one of the initial conditions for modernization' (p.85). Crises (pathologies of the lifeworld) and their partner-in-crime systemic disequilibria harm the reproduction of the lifeworld (and here you can explain the change)

Also "deformations of the lifeworld take a different form in societies in which the points of incursion for the penetration of crises into the lifeworld are politically relevant memberships' (p.87). - The agency issue, in my view, is not clearly evaluated in this article.

In summary, critical theory looks at six themes: (a) the forms of integration in postliberal societies (b) family socialization and ego development (c) mass media and mass culture (d) social psychology behind the cessation of protest (e) theory of art (f) critique of positivism and science.Communicative action, in this sense, provides a framework for interdisciplinary research (-again, I am not sure about 'how').

A theory of society that claims universality for its basic concepts....remains caught up in the self-referentiality (p.102)... In modern societies there is such an expansion of the scope of contingency for interaction (read - everything is interaction?) ||
 * A summary quote:**
 * =Discussion points= || 1) What happens at the end of a communicative action process? How does the logic of communicative action work in practice?

2) Is critical theory more helpful in asking questions than answering them? || = = = = = = = = = = = =

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