Niklas Luhmann

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Life

Niklas Luhmann[2] was born in Lüneburg, Lower Saxony on December 8, 1927 and died November 6, 1998. He was a German sociologist. After the Second Worldwar Luhmann studied law at the Universities of Freiburg and Harvard. At Harvard he met Talcott Parsons, the most influential social systems theorist. Later on, Luhmann developed his own approach (based on Parsons), which became the base for his further work. Further in his career, however, Luhmann rejected Parsons theory and went on to rival it with his own systems theory.

Famous are the systems theory and their complexity [3]. The systems theory tries to clarify principles that can be applied to all types of systems in all fields of research.

Works

Niklas Luhmann is the author of a great number of (important) scientific publications. Most of his works implies the system theory or the autopoietic theory (autopoiesis vs. allopoiesis). All of his work about the systems theory is based on three core theories. First, systems theory as societal theory, second communication theory and last evolution theory. The core element of Luhmann's theory is communication. Social systems are systems of communication, and society is the most encompassing social system. Being the social system that comprises all (and only) communication, today's society is a world society. A system is defined by a boundary between itself and its environment. Luhmann turned away from action and towards communication and this is how he differed from Talcott Parsons. Luhmann saw social systems not as systems of action but as systems of communication. He saw social systems as an organic system capable of self regulation, and it was namely this self regulation area of his theory that led him to develop autopoiesis in the sociology term. In total, Luhmann wrote moren than 70 books and nearly 400 scholarly articles.

References

Arnoldi, J. (2002). Niklas Luhman. An Introduction. In: Theory, Culture & Society, 18, 1355-1372.

Gren, M. & Zierhofer, W. (2003). The unity of difference: a critical appraisal of Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems in the context of corporeality and spatiality. In: Environment and Planning A., 35, 615-630.

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Contributors

Published by Bernard Jansen & Sonny Joziasse

Edited, links and references added by --SamanthaHazlett 20:29, 17 October 2011 (CEST)

Image inserted and minor enhancements made by --JikkeVanTHof 15:55, 18 October 2011 (CEST)

Links added by Aafke Brus --AafkeBrus 17:01, 31 October 2011 (CET)