CONTINGENCY AND COMPLEXITY IN THE SOCIAL THEORY OF NIKLAS LUHMANN

Abstract

Niklas Luhmann has provided a view of social theory from the perspective of contemporary systems theory which highlights a large number of social mechanisms that tend to be overlooked in the more traditional approaches. Using a complex hierarchical approach to social structure, I demonstrate the kinds of social change which Luhmann brings out in a way that avoids his own functionalist teleology while at the same time emphasizes his unique description of the role of contingency in the evolution of social systems. Finally, from Luhmann's approach toward social theory I suggest a theory of development and change in social structures which is unique to the level of complexity where social activities are found. This theory depicts the emergence and development of a self-reflexive contingent structure as a threshold condition which produces a set of properties not available to systems of lower complexity and which increases the variety available to the system through structural reformulation in the face of envi...