Double contingency
From Geography
The term double contingency was introduced by Talcott Parsons, who used the concept to account for the possibility of social interaction, and by extension, of social order (Vanderstraeten, 2002, p. 2). Niklas Luhmann devotes a chapter in his book Soziale Systeme to double contingency. Luhmann discusses double contingency as a problem that motivates the constitution of social systems (Vanderstraeten, 2002, p.8). Luhmann is mostly interested in the positive aspects of double contingency, where communication is received without miscommunication and agreements and understanding are created.
The term double contingency refers to the fact that when one communicates the one always has to take into account the way the communication will be received. Concerning communication there will always be a sender and a receiver. Without taking into account the way communication will be received by the receiver miscommunication can easily happen. By miscommunication is meant that the message the sender wants to send is received in a different way. For example think of the way you can complement one in the Netherlands. One way to do that is giving someone the thumbs up. However in some other countries giving someone the thumbs up has a total different (negative) meaning. In this example the intention (meaning) of the sender can be received in a total different way by the receiver.
Besides the miscommunication possibility double contingency also refers to the necessary of more than one person to communicate and from here create social interaction. Concerning the theory of double contingency one can look at the way a relationship between two persons (and their communication) is build up and influenced.
References:
Vanderstraeten,R. Parsons, Luhmann and the Theorem of Double Contingency,2002 Consulted: 21 October 2010 http://jcs.sagepub.com/content/2/1/77.full.pdf+html
Ritzer,G.,Goodmman,D.,Sociological theory, 2003 Consulted: 21 October 2010 http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072817186/student_view0/chapter9/chapter_summary.html
Published by Tobias Geerdink
enhanced by Judith Nijenhuis
--StefanBehlen 14:02, 25 October 2011 (CEST)
