While psychoanalysis seeks to uncover the cause of distorted
understanding by revealing the history of an individual’s self-formative
process, critical social science seeks to locate the cause of the collective
misunderstandings of social groups in ideology. Social groups,
Habermas argues, are prevented from achieving a correct
understanding of their situation because, under the sway of ideological
systems of ideas, they have passively accepted an illusory account of
reality that prevents them from recognizing and pursuing their common
interests and goals. For this reason, critique is aimed at revealing to