Social SystemsStanford University Press, 1995 - 627 Seiten A major challenge confronting contemporary theory is to overcome its fixation on written narratives and the culture of print. In this presentation of a general theory of systems, Germany's most prominent and controversial social thinker sets out a contribution to sociology that reworks our understanding of meaning and communication. Luhmann concedes that there is no longer a binding representation of society within society, but refuses to describe this situation as a loss of legitimation or a crisis of representation. Instead, he proposes that we search for new ways of coping with the enforced selectivity that marks any self-description under the conditions of functionally differentiated modern society. For Luhmann, the end of metanarratives does not mean the end of theory, but a challenge to theory, an invitation to open itself to theoretical developments in a number of disciplines that, for quite some time, have been successfully working with cybernetic models that no longer require the fiction of the external observer. Social Systems provides the foundation for a theory of modern society that would be congruent with this new understanding of the world. One of the most important contributions to social theory of recent decades, it has implications for many disciplines beyond sociology. |
Inhalt
Foreword | ix |
On the Concepts Subject and Action | xxxvii |
Preface to the German Edition | xlv |
Paradigm Change in Systems Theory I | 1 |
System and Function | 12 |
Meaning | 59 |
Double Contingency | 103 |
Communication and Action | 137 |
The Individuality of Psychic Systems | 255 |
Structure and Time | 278 |
Contradiction and Conflict | 357 |
Society and Interaction | 405 |
SelfReference and Rationality | 437 |
Consequences for Epistemology | 478 |
Notes | 491 |
619 | |
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Häufige Begriffe und Wortgruppen
action analysis autopoiesis autopoietic becomes behavior boundaries Chap cognitive communication complexity concept conflict connection consciousness consequences constituted contradiction determined difference between system differentiation distinction domain double contingency Edgar Morin Edmund Husserl elements emerge ence epistemology evolution example expectations experience fact formulated Frankfurt function functional analysis further Heinz von Foerster horizon human immune system improbable increase individual interac interaction systems internal interpenetration interpretation Jürgen Habermas latency logic meaning ment modern morality munication Niklas Luhmann normative object observation one's operations organization orientation person perspective political possible precisely present presupposes problem psychic systems question reality reference reflexive relations relationship reproduction requires schema selection self-description self-observation self-reference self-referential systems semantics sense situation social dimension social systems society sociocultural evolution sociology specific system and environment system formation system/environment difference systems theory Talcott Parsons temporal themes theoretical thereby tion unity York
Verweise auf dieses Buch
Enterprising States: The Public Management of Welfare-to-Work Mark Considine Eingeschränkte Leseprobe - 2001 |