Boundary of social system

From Geography

According to the German social scientist Niklas Luhmann, social systems are systems of communication. They have no fixed delimitations. According to Luhmann, systems do not consist of people, but systems consist of interaction between people. And systems are related to the environment.

A system's structure

Because there are a large number of various social systems, there are also different ways for men to communicate. This also means that there are several ways to understand and approach the world, says Luhmann. He also explains that every person is a system on its own, because everyone has its own opinion, perspective and way to interpret the world. This would cause an enormous complexity of meanings, communication and an infinite number of individual systems. To reduce that complexity, a system is formed by a group of actors who use a certain set of communication forms and perspectives.

Luhmann declares that one is able to be part of a system, without being localized. For example: A government. Almost every government in the world makes joint decisions, but the actors from this system are most of the time at different places. Another example are the current technological communication systems, such as mobile phones or internet. These kind of systems are worldwide, but never localized at the same place.

Boundaries

A system selects its own specific types of communication. A system is therefore a boundary in itself, created in relation to other systems. The boundaries are related to perspectives, observations and situations. A system exists in a specific environment, and therefor the boundaries from this system differs this system from another. For research and observation to a specific system, the boundaries and differences are used to study. This way of observing is valid to a certain extend because boundaries and meaning are able to change over time.

References

• Vermeer, H. (2006). Luhmann’s “social systems” theory: preliminary fragments for a theory of translation.

• 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. Vol. 35, pp. 615-630.

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