Luhmann's Social Systems Research Articles

Is Europe 2020 Set to Fail? The Cultural Political Economy of the EU Grand Strategies

The European Union (EU) has been continuously rethinking its global position amidst emerging economic and geopolitical challenges and attempting to formulate strategies to increase its competitiveness. However, its long-standing policy implementation deficit is also recognized for its grand strategies, including the initially ambitious Lisbon Strategy. Is Europe 2020 set to fail as well? In this paper, we are arguing that strategic steering is essentially a discursive practice influenced by both semiotic and extra-semiotic factors. Hence, success or failure of a strategy essentially depends on ability to steer the discourse. Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory offers a theoretical framework against which limitations and potentials of strategic steering at the EU level can be analysed. While high levels of rationality and reflection capacities can improve strategic steering, it is limited by the increasing complexity. Recognizing limitations of direct and centralized interventions, we look for analytical and strategic solutions in sophisticated mechanisms of contextual steering: variation, selection and retention of strategic discourses. These mechanisms are integral to the “cultural political economy” approach. In the final part of the paper, we show how cultural political economy can explain the implementation shortcomings of the EU strategies.

Contested Delineations: Planning, Law, and the Governance of Protected Areas

In this paper we reflect on the relationship between planning and law. We analyse the Dutch interpretation and implementation of the European Union Habitats and Birds Directives by investigating the practices of delineation of protected areas. These directives provide a legislative framework for the designation of protected sites as well as for decision making about social and economic activities that might have negative effects on the conservation objectives. The formal boundaries of the protected area can have legal, political, and economic consequences and are therefore the subject of much debate. Using Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory, we analyse the debates concerning delineation and the potential for planning to reduce tensions and balance interests. It is argued that the irreducible differences between the economic, political, and legal perspectives, in combination with the Dutch path of a legalistic interpretation of EU directives, have produced a situation in which the role of planning is reduced and new forms of planning are hard to implement.

La evolución del constructivismo (desde una perspectiva constructivista)

This article discusses the evolutionary conditions of constructivism on society, from Luhmann's social systems theory. First, we review some of the basic notions of the theory of social and cultural evolution, focusing on the concepts of variation, selection and stabilization of semantics in expectation structures. We suggest that these elements find empirical scenarios suitable for observation in scientific and philosophical communications, as well as in cultural productions. Our discussion leads to the question regarding the likeliness of stabilization of constructivism in expectations that operate in everyday life. We conclude with the hypothesis that constructivism -on its expressions on several systems- constitutes an evolutionary acquisition, as it allows the coupling of new and more complex communications in contemporary society.

The human right to medicines in relation to patents in sub-Saharan Africa: some critical remarks

Sub-Saharan Africa is affected by the largest burden of diseases in the world and by extremely low access to medicines. The affordability of medicines can be severely reduced by the registration of patents on these products. However, patent protection can increase access to innovative medicines and support other rights, interests, liberties and needs in society. As a matter of fact, most African countries provide patent protection for pharmaceutical products. This article examines whether international human rights law, and in particular a ‘human right to medicines’, can guide and redress the problematic issues of medicine patenting products in sub-Saharan Africa. Besides analysing the human rights law, it discusses whether, normatively, the problem of patents on medicines in sub-Saharan Africa ought to be solved by utilising a human rights framework. The enquiry identifies several strong limitations of human rights law in addressing the problem of access to medicines in sub-Saharan Africa, and presents the concern that human rights may serve biopower rather than function as an emancipatory tool. The relevance and merits of this argument are grounded on different instances of critical–analytical research, including interdisciplinary and empirical research on the operationalisation and implementation of human rights norms relating to access to medicines as well as theoretical insights from socio-legal studies, in particular drawn from Luhmann's social systems theory and Foucault's theory of biopower.

The communication of meaning and the structuration of expectations: Giddens' structuration theory and Luhmann's self-organization

The communication of meaning as distinct from (Shannon-type) information is central to Luhmann's social systems theory and Giddens' structuration theory of action. These theories share an emphasis ...

The communication of meaning and the structuration of expectations: Giddens' “structuration theory” and Luhmann's “self‐organization”

AbstractThe communication of meaning as distinct from (Shannon‐type) information is central to Luhmann's social systems theory and Giddens' structuration theory of action. These theories share an emphasis on reflexivity, but focus on meaning along a divide between interhuman communication and intentful action as two different systems of reference. Recombining these two theories into a theory about the structuration of expectations, interactions, organization, and self‐organization of intentional communications can be simulated based on algorithms from the computation of anticipatory systems. The self‐organizing and organizing layers remain rooted in the double contingency of the human encounter, which provides the variation. Organization and self‐organization of communication are reflexive upon and therefore reconstructive of each other. Using mutual information in three dimensions, the imprint of meaning processing in the modeling system on the historical organization of uncertainty in the modeled system can be measured. This is shown empirically in the case of intellectual organization as “structurating” structure in the textual domain of scientific articles.

Towards the strategies of modern societies: systems and social processes

While several sociological theories have traditionally dealt with rational action by human actors, little attention has been devoted to the possibilities for rational steering of the entire subsystems of functionally differentiated modern societies in the context of their increasing complexity. Although rational intentional action is clearly limited at the macro-level by the complexity emphasized by Luhmann's social systems theory, strategies are required to approach the normative ideal of active society as defined by Etzioni. Understanding the strategic processes requires micro–macro and agency–structure connections. A possible solution to understanding strategy as a social process in this respect is found in the adaptation of the three-level – individuality, reality and totality – approach of Sztompka's theory of social becoming.

Why (not) Luhmann? On the applicability of social systems theory to translation studies

This article discusses Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory as applied to translation against the background of other systemically informed paradigms in translation studies. There have been three ways of studying translation from the systemic point of view. (1) Translation was considered as a unique system comprised of phenomena distinct from any other type of social phenomena. (2) Translation was studied as a subsystem within a larger system of related phenomena (polysystem theory). (3) Lastly, translation was put in a larger social context: it was viewed in its connection to social discourse. I argue that the sociocritical paradigm may take a further step and use Luhmann's social systems theory for studying the social role of translation. Social systems theory provides helpful tools for a sociocritical student of translation in theorizing translation as a system's boundary phenomenon.

The non-linear dynamics of meaning processing in social systems

Social order cannot be considered as a stable phenomenon because it contains an order of reproduced expectations. When the expectations operate upon one another, they generate a non-linear dynamics that processes meaning. Specific meaning can be stabilized, for example, in social institutions, but all meaning arises from a horizon of possible meanings. Using Luhmann's social systems theory and Rosen's theory of anticipatory systems, I submit equations for modeling the processing of meaning in inter-human communication. First, a self-referential system can use a model of itself for the anticipation. Under the condition of functional differentiation, the social system can be expected to entertain a set of models; each model can also contain a model of the other models. Two anticipatory mechanisms are then possible: one transversal between the models and a longitudinal one providing the modeled systems with meaning from the perspective of hindsight. A system containing two anticipatory mechanisms can become hyper-incursive. Without decision-making, however, a hyper-incursive system would be overloaded with uncertainty. Under this pressure, informed decisions tend to replace the `natural preferences' of agents, and an order of cultural expectations can increasingly be shaped.

Meaningful communication among experts and affected citizens on risk: challenge or impossibility?

Experience to date demonstrates that it remains challenging to engage experts and concerned citizens in a meaningful and mutually comprehensive dialogue on complex and technical risk‐bearing projects. In search of an explanation we found Niklas Luhmann's interpretation of modern society very useful. Luhmann describes modern society as the aggregate of more or less self‐sufficient functional subsystems becoming more and more isolated from each other in a spiral of progressive specialisation. With each system developing its own expectations, language, rationality and ways of observing and interpreting reality, communication between systems becomes progressively problematic; according to Luhmann, even impossible. Contrary to Luhmann, however, we consider communicating human beings (and not communication in itself) the constituting elements of society. From that perspective we see a connection with Ulrich Beck's thesis on modern society as an individualised risk society and his call for ‘reflexive science and decision making’. We will use Beck's negotiation model to build communicative bridges between (Luhmann's) social (sub)systems, in particular, by engaging as many concerned parties as possible. Further, we will argue that the Belgian experience with the siting of a radioactive waste repository demonstrates that the creation of an environment in which experts and citizens can enter into dialogue as individuals, rather than as representatives of interests or (scientific) disciplines, can help bridge differences in the rationality and jargon of systems, and result in finding common ground.

The Sociology of Childhood as Scientific Communication

This article begins by identifying a close relationship between the image of children generated by several sociologists working within the new sociology of childhood perspective and the claims and ambitions of the proponents of children's autonomy rights. The image of the child as a competent, self-controlled human agent are then subjected to observation from the perspective of Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory. The new sociology of childhood's constructivist approach is compared and contrasted with Niklas Luhmann's theory of `operational constructivism'. The article applies tenets of Luhmann's theory, to the emergence of the new childhood sociologist's image of the child as a competent, self-controlled social agent, to the epistemological status of this image and, in particular, to claims that it derives from scientific endeavour. The article proceeds to identify two theoretical developments within sociology — sociology of identity and social agency — which have brought about fundamental changes in what may be considered `sociological' and so `scientific' and paved the way for sociological communications about what children `really are'. In conclusion, it argues that the merging of sociology with polemics, ideology, opinion and personal beliefs and, at the level of social systems, between science and politics represents in Luhmann's terms `dedifferentiation' — a tendency he claims may have serious adverse consequences for modern society. This warning is applied to the scientific status of sociology — its claim to be able to produce `facts' for society, upon which social systems, such as politics and law, may rely. Like the mass media, sociology may now be capable of producing only information, and not facts, about children.

The biological metaphor of a second‐order observer and the sociological discourse

PurposeIn the tradition of Spencer Brown's Laws of Form, observation was defined in Luhmann's social systems theory as the designation of a distinction. In the sociological design, however, the designation specifies only a category for the observation. The distinction between observation and expectation enables the sociologist to appreciate the processing of meaning in social systems. Seeks to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe specification of “the observer” in the tradition of systems theory is analyzed in historical detail. Inconsistencies and differences in perspectives are explicated, and the specificity of human language is further specified. The processing of meaning in social systems adds another layer to the communication.FindingsReflexivity about the different perspectives of participant observers and an external observer is fundamental to the sociological discourse. The ranges of possible observations from different perspectives can be considered as second‐order observations or, equivalently, as the specification of an uncertainty in the observations. This specification of an uncertainty provides an expectation. The expectation can be provided with (one or more) values by observations. The significance of observations can be tested when the expectations are properly specified.Originality/valueThe expectations (second‐order observations) are structured and therefore systemic attributes to the discourse. However, the metaphor of a (meta‐)biological observer has disturbed the translation of social systems theory into sociological discourse. Different discourses specify other expectations about possible observations. By specifying second‐order observations as expectations, social systems theory and sociocybernetics can combine the constructivist with an empirical approach.

Variation and change in the meaning of oral health related quality of life: a ‘grounded’ systems approach

Changes in concepts of health and disease have led to increased interest in health related quality of life in medicine. Quality of life measures tend to treat quality of life as a stable construct that can be measured externally. They do not consider people's differing expectations and assume that what quality of life means to people is stable over time. This paper reports on a study which aimed to find out how measures of oral health related quality of life (OHRQoL) vary between and change within individuals. Longitudinal semi-structured open-ended interviews were carried out with twenty people with socially noticeable broken, decayed or missing teeth who were or were not seeking dental treatment. The data were collected and analysed using the iterative processes of grounded systems theory based on Glaserian (Theoretical Sensitivity, The Sociology Press, Mill Valley, CA, 1978) grounded theory and Luhmann's (Social Systems, Stanford University, Stanford, 1984) social systems theory. During the data analysis it emerged that participants’ were adopting positions on seven dimensions of oral health relating to the positions that people would adopt with respect norm, attribution, trust, accessibility, commodity, authenticity, and character. The core distinction that accommodated people's varying positions was that people constructed their own margins of relevance of oral health. The margins of relevance indicated a variable from a hypothetical extreme of ‘super-relevant’ to the other extreme of ‘not relevant’. The margins of relevance could shift, meaning that assessments of quality of life would vary. Oral health related quality of life is therefore defined as the cyclical and self-renewing interaction between the relevance and impact of oral health in everyday life.

The Structure and Significance of Strategic Episodes: Social Systems Theory and the Routine Practices of Strategic Change

In this paper we draw on Niklas Luhmann's social systems theory, and in particular his concept of an 'episode', to guide research into strategic practice and its relationship to the operating routines of an organization. Episodes, in Luhmann's theory, provide a mechanism by which a system can suspend its routine structures and so initiate a reflection on and change of these structures. Applying this theory to the organizational process of strategic change, we draw attention to the routine nature of strategic episodes and to their organizational role as the effective locus of strategic practice and the interaction between strategic and operating routines. We continue to develop a framework for the systematic analysis of different kinds of episode in terms of key aspects of their initiation, conduct and termination.

Morality materialized: Notes on public prevention as a policy system

Public prevention is discussed as a policy system that owes its coherence to a number of “constitutive principles” rather than to an institutional fabric of its own. Notions from Luhmann's autopoietic social systems theory are combined with some recent developments in discourse analysis to outline this discussion theoretically. As to the constitutive principles, first, it is argued that public prevention is negatively constituted by its divorce from the regular healthcare system. Second, it is demonstrated that the constitutive principles of the public prevention system itself stem from the basic insecurities of this type of social policy. Public prevention strategies always have to impose themselves on existing (social) policy fields, and, more importantly, they often intrude upon people's private lives. That is why they tend to locate responsibility “outside,” moralizing the environment and moralizing things.