Society

From Geography

According to The Oxford Dictionary, society is ´the aggregate of people living together in a more or less ordered community´ (2011). In Niklas Luhmann´s systems theory, society plays an important role. A basic assumption of Luhmann is that a society can never be observed in its totality. Therefore there is a lack of overview and it is hard to direct societies in a coordinated way (Arnoldi, 2001, p. 2).

Luhmann distinguishes three analysis levels that are appicable on society. The highest level is only systems. The second level consists of machines, organisms, social systems, and psychic systems. The lowest level is a part of the social systems; it consists of interactions, organizations, and societies Gren & Zierhofer, 2002, p. 6).

References

Arnoldi, J. (2001). Niklas Luhmann. An introduction. In: Theory, Culture & Society. Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 1-13.

Gren, M. & Zierhofer. W. (2002). The unity of difference. A critical appraisal of Niklas Luhmann´s theory of social systems in the context of corporeality and spatiality. Nijmegen: University of Nijmegen.

Oxford Dictionary. (2011). Definitions of society. Retrieved on 17 October 2011, on [1]

Created by User:BoudewijnIdema, 17 October 2011, 20:25 (UTC)