Luhmann's theory of society
From Geography
Definition
This theory is developed by Niklas Luhmann. Regarding this theory (Gren & Zierhoffer, 2003) the modern society has been divided into serveral functionally specialised subsystems. These subsystems cannot be replaced by the other subsystems and they exist seperated from each other. A consequense within modern societies is that there is no metaposition. There is no position which is representative for the whole society. A metaposition would give somebody the opportunity to observe a whole society or speak for a whole society. Within Luhmann's theory of society the aspect of functional differentiation plays a important role. The capacity of a society to deal and to solve its problems depends on the it. All problems need to be split and translated into issues that a certain system can handle. For example: the subsystem of Economy. This susbsystem can only deal and tackle problems as it is translated to its binary code (having money or not having money, economics benefit or economic costs). If not, the system will see these problems as 'noise' and they will be refained from such operations. On the other hand the functional differentiation does not determine the subsystems of a society to a rigide and static existence. On the contrary, the programs and codes are dynamic. They can be replaced by new ones. New systems can differentiate themselves while other systems may merge.
References
- Gren, M. & Zierhofer, W. (2003). The unity of difference: a critical appraisal of Niklas Luhmann's theory of social system in the context of corperaity and spatiality. In: Environment & Planning A. Vol. 35. pp. 615-630.
