Abstract: With the changes of contemporary capitalism, Habermas tried to break through the dilemma of the critical theory of instrumental rationality and the limitation of the Soviet Union dogmatic socialism mode, and sought the factors which can balance prosperity in economy and democracy in politics in capitalism from the source of the development of the society. Based on this, he stressed the need to reconstruct historical materialism. The reconstruction is based on the theory of communicative action, and it has rationality to some extent. But he has a negative attitude towards the basic principles and scopes of historical materialism, which shows theoretical weakness of idealizing the society. The reflection of Habermas theory can give the following enlightenment to social development: attaching importance to communication and strengthening communication is conducive to creating favorable conditions for social development and human liberation; building harmonious development environment is a process;social development is the comprehensive development of politics, economy and culture; the development of productivity plays a basic role in social development.

Key words: reconstruction of historical materialism, the critical theory of instrumental rationality, social development