Abstract

In a systematic account and critique of Habermas' social theory from a Marxist perspective, my major theses are as follows. ;Despite its problems, Marx's social theory remains the most plausible and effective attempt to comprehend, criticize, and change the fundamental character of social relations. ;Although originally conceived as a supplement to Marx's social theory, Habermas' communication theory of society in its recent formulation is the most important attempt to replace Marx's theory. ;Habermas' theory addresses the two fundamental unsolved problems for radical theory: the justification of the normative dimension of the theory necessary for the criticism of contemporary society and the relationship between the theory and the political practice necessary for changing contemporary society. ;Habermas addresses both problems through a theory of rationality that examines the historical development and social embodiment of rationality and reconstructs the formal conditions of rationality. ;Habermas' attempt fails because he is unable to overcome the conflict between a "transcendental" and a "contextual" approach to the problem of normative justification and because he compromises the radical intentions of Marx's theory through an overly harmonistic account of the modern state and the capitalist economy. ;Marx's "contextual" approach to the normative problem which dictates the use of "internal criticism" and his analysis of capitalism in terms of class struggle to be used as a weapon in the struggle are more plausible and politically effective than Habermas' attempt--provided that the empirical thesis of "the disappearance of the proletariat" is abandoned. ;This thesis should be abandoned and Marx's class analysis extended from the factory to the social factory, from the industrial working class to the waged and the unwaged . ;With this extension, we can continue to use the insights of Marx's theory in the current situation, a usefulness that exceeds Habermas' theory as well as its' "postmodern" alternatives. ;Despite its' inferiority to Marx's theory, when viewed as a supplement and not as a replacement, Habermas' theory offers an important account of free and open political discussion and an important critique of neoconservatism useful for struggles within and outside the university