The concept of lifeworld in J?rgen Habermas’ social theory: Autobiographical writing as communicative action

Abstract

The lifeworld is one of the main categories in J?rgen Habermas’ theory of communicative action. The article describes the structure of the lifeworld, its constitution in the process of social interaction, and also representation of the lifeworld in the biographical narrative. Auto/biography can be viewed as a form of communicative action, that helps to enrich the theoretical and methodological positions of the biographical method in sociology. These theoretical constructs can be used as a methodological basis for empirical sociological research and as a join of grand theory with microanalysis of social interaction.