The Sociology Book

110

O N L Y C O M M U N I C A T I O N

C A N C O M M U N I C A T E

NIKLAS LUHMANN (1927–1998)

M

odernity’s defining

feature, according to

German sociologist

Niklas Luhmann, is advanced

capitalist society’s differentiation

into separate social systems—

the economic, educational,

scientific, legal, political, religious,

and so on. Luhmann argues that

the term “society” refers to the

system that encompasses all the

other systems: society is, he says,

the system of systems.

Individuals, Luhmann insists,

are socially meaningless. Society’s

base element is not the human

actor but “communication”—a term

that he defines as the “synthesis

of information, utterance, and

understanding” arising out of the

Modern society has

distinct social systems

(the economy, the law,

education, politics,

and so on).

Structural couplings

enable restricted

communications

between the different

communication systems.

These systems give

meaning to the world,

yet they consist not of

people but of

communications.

Each system processes

activities and problems

in its own distinctive way,

so cannot connect

to other systems

without assistance.

IN CONTEXT

FOCUS

Systems of communication

KEY DATES

1937 US sociologist

Talcott Parsons discusses

systems theory in The

Structure of Social Action.

1953 Austrian philosopher

Ludwig Wittgenstein’s

concept of language games is

published posthumously and

influences Luhmann’s ideas

on communication.

1969 Laws of Form by British

mathematician George

Spencer-Brown underpins

Luhmann’s ideas about

structural differentiation.

1987 German sociologist

Jürgen Habermas engages

Luhmann in critical debate

about systems theory.

2009 Luhmann’s ideas are

applied by Greek scholar

Andreas Mihalopoulos in his

analysis of the criminal justice

and legal systems.