Summarize and discuss the main contributions of Habermas's theory of communicative action. As a critical theorist from the rationalist perspective, Habermas disagreed with the epistemological perspective of rationality described by the positivist school of thought and the concept of modernity arising from capitalism. Jürgen Habermas's Theory of Communicative Action (TCA) incorporates Marx's paradigm while drawing on well-known classical theorists and social philosophers such as Parsons, Weber, Mead and Durkheim (cited in Eriksen and Weigard, 2003). This essay will summarize and discuss the main contributions of Habermas's TCA using examples throughout to illustrate his concepts. Habermas's TCA was first published in 1981 in a collection of critical essays spread over two volumes. Volume One: Reasons and the Rationalization of Society (McCarthy, 1985) and Theory of Communicative Action, Volume Two: Critique of Functionalist Reason (Habermas: 1987). The bulk of Habermas' writings concerned a more modern approach to Verstehende's sociology by examining three main principles (a) phenomenological (b) linguistic and (c) hermeneutic. (Outhwaite, 2009). Phenomenology has brought constitution to the daily lives of individuals while the linguistic structure of communication is used to establish a normative understanding of society, as Habermas (1985) states that "access to a symbolically prestructured reality cannot be obtained by observation alone. The principle of hermeneutics enables readers with the knowledge to interpret (also known as the science of interpretation) (Ref: The Hermeneutic Approach: ref). His writings develop the idea that actors in society seek to restore...... middle of paper... end. In his writings on the “lifeworld” and “system”, he uses these two concepts to convey that although language is a means of communication; hence the four empty statements, communication itself is even a broader concept if it relates it to culture and social capital in the social sciences. The essay discusses how rationalization has been integrated as a force that, when considered within the "system" of modern capitalist societies, the "life world" loses its power at the expense of these forces . He thus takes examples of transactions to make money. We see that Habermas's use of language echoes that of other social philosophers. It can be seen that he did this to help familiarize the concepts and make his TCA understood, but it is intended to clarify his different points of view.