Habermas's work of four decades has resulted in an innovative and provocative analysis of contemporary society. Many parts of his social and political theory are contestable and in passing we have already noted some difficulties with specific positions. Moreover, key arguments in his work are in considerable need of further elaboration, a fact often acknowledged by Habermas himself, "I am aware that I have not put forward a mature theory…. It was my concern in writing The Theory of Communicative Action to provide the foundation for a project sufficiently fertile to be pursued, as it were, radially, in different directions."¹ The present work is concerned with Habermas's substantive portrayal of contemporary society and politics so I will focus more detailed attention on difficulties with these topics. However, before turning in that direction it is worth briefly examining a few of the more prominent areas of criticism of Habermas's general theory that have some bearing on our main concerns. This should also help clarify some puzzling issues that have accumulated along our way.