Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-wzw2p Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-09T00:41:40.148Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Chapter 13 - Luhmann's Sociological Systems Theory and the Study of Social Problems

from Part II - Historical and Theoretical Issues in the Study of Social Problems

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  16 March 2018

A. Javier Treviño
Affiliation:
Wheaton College, Massachusetts
Get access

Summary

This chapter discusses social problems from the perspective of Niklas Luhmann's sociological systems theory. We argue that his theory provides a rich framework to gain relevant insights for the study of social problems. The key element of systems theory is the concept of functionally differentiated society, that is, a heterarchical arrangement of social systems such as the economy, polity, religion, science. Luhmann's theory connects core ideas from both realist and constructionist epistemologies without ending up in inconsistencies or contradictions. The theory gives justice to realism insofar as it takes the systemic nature of social phenomena seriously and it defies simplistic models of causality, steering, planning, and intervention. Systems theory is constructionist insofar as it takes the multiperspectivity of modern society seriously: many social systems construct their own definitions of social problems including underlying causalities and values. The same social problem appears differently from different systems’ perspectives.

Type
Chapter
Information
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andersen, N. Å. 2003. Polyphonic organisations. In Autopoietic Organization Theory, edited by Hernes, T. and Bakken, T., 151–82. Oslo: Liber.Google Scholar
Anderson, B. 1991. Imagined Communities: Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Baecker, D. 2007. Studien zur nächsten Gesellschaft: Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Bauman, Z. 1990. Modernity and ambivalence. Theory, Culture and Society 7:143–69.Google Scholar
Beck, U. 1992. Risk Society: Towards a New Modernity. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Best, J., ed. 1995. Images of Issues: Typifying Contemporary Social Problems. 2nd ed. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Beyer, P. 1998. Globalizing systems, global cultural models and religion(s). International Sociology 13(1):7994.Google Scholar
Beyer, P. 2009. Religion as communication: On Niklas Luhmann. In Contemporary Theories of Religion, edited by Stausberg, M., 99114. Oxon, UK: Routledge.Google Scholar
Bommes, M., and Scherr, A.. 2000. Soziologie der sozialen Arbeit. Weinheim: Beltz Juventa.Google Scholar
Brunczel, B. 2010. Disillusioning Modernity. Frankfurt am Main: Lang.Google Scholar
Campbell, K. 2012. Loneliness and the elderly: Dying of a broken heart. www.whvheart.com/loneliness-and-the-elderly-dying-of-a-broken-heart/.Google Scholar
Carlsson, A. 2012. Motion (Proposal by MP) 2012/13:So330 Suicide prevention. www.riksdagen.se/sv/Dokument-Lagar/Forslag/Motioner/Forebyggande-av-sjalvmord_H002So330/.Google Scholar
Clark, C. 2013. The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914. New York: Harper Perennial.Google Scholar
Collins, R., and S. K. Sanderson, . 2009. Conflict Sociology. Abridged and updated ed. Boulder, CO: Paradigm.Google Scholar
Durkheim, E. 1979. Suicide: A Study in Sociology. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Easton, D. 1967. A Systems Analysis of Political Life. New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Echelbarger, C. 2007. Battling the siege of loneliness. The Pillar 8(1). http://rcg.org/pillar/0801pp-btsol.html.Google Scholar
Furedi, F. 2002. Culture of Fear: Risk-Taking and the Morality of Low Expectation. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Gibson, B., and Boiko, O.. 2012. Luhmann's social systems theory, health and illness. In Contemporary Theorists for Medical Sociology, edited by Scambler, G., 4970. Oxford: Routledge.Google Scholar
Habermas, J. 1992. The Theory of Communicative Action Vol. 2. Lifeworld and System: A Citique of Functionalist Reason. Cambridge: Polity Press.Google Scholar
Hagen, R. 2000. Rational solidarity and functional differentiation. Acta Sociologica 43(1):2742.Google Scholar
Holstein, J., and Miller, G., eds. 1993. Reconsidering Social Constructionism: Debates in Social Problems Theory. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Ibarra, P., and Kitsuse, J.. 1993. Vernacular constituents of moral discourse: An interactionist proposal for the study of social problems. In Reconsidering Social Constructionism: Debates in Social Problems Theory, edited by Holstein, J. and Miller, G., 2558. Hawthorne NY: Aldine De Gruyter.Google Scholar
King, M. 2009. Systems, Not People, Make Society Happen. Wilmington, DE: Holcombe.Google Scholar
King, M., and Thornhill, C.. 2003. Niklas Luhmann's Theory of Politics and Law. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
La Cour, A., and Højlund, H.. 2008. Voluntary social work as a paradox. Acta Sociologica 51(1):4154.Google Scholar
La Cour, A., and Philippopoulos-Mihalopoulos, A., eds. 2013. Luhmann Observed: Radical Theoretical Encounters. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lee, D. B., and Brosziewski, A.. 2009. Observing Society: Meaning, Communication, and Social Systems. Amherst, NY: Cambria Press.Google Scholar
Lee, D. B., Goede, J., and Shryock, R.. 2010. Clicking for friendship: Social network sites and the medium of personhood. MedieKultur 27(49):137–50.Google Scholar
Loseke, D. 2003. Thinking about Social Problems. 2nd ed. Hawthorne, NY: Aldine Transaction.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 1977. Die Funktion der Religion. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 1989. Ecological Communication. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 1990a. Die Wissenschaft der Gesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 1990b. Political Theory in the Welfare State. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 1992. What is communication? Communication Theory 2(3):251–59.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 1993. Risk: A Sociological Theory. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 1995. Social Systems. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 1997. Globalization or world society: How to conceive of modern society? International Review of Sociology 7(1):6779.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 1998. Observations on Modernity. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 2000a. Die Politik der Gesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 2000b. Die Religion der Gesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 2005. Der medizinische Code. In Soziologische Aufklärung 5, edited by Luhmann, N., 176–88. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. (1995) 2005. Inklusion und Exklusion. In Soziologische Aufklärung 6, edited by Luhmann, N., 226–51. Wiesbaden: VS-Verlag.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 2012. Theory of Society. Vol. 1. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Luhmann, N. 2013. Theory of Society. Vol. 2. Palo Alto, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Marx, K., and Engels, F.. (1847) 2014. The Communist Manifesto. London: Penguin Classics.Google Scholar
Maturana, H., and Varela, F.. 1980. Autopoeisis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living. Dordrecht: D. Reidel.Google Scholar
Michailakis, D., and Schirmer, W.. 2014. Social work and social problems: A contribution from systems theory and constructionism. International Journal of Social Welfare 23(4):431–42.Google Scholar
Moeller, H.-G. 2005. Luhmann Explained: From Souls to Systems. Vol. 3. Peru, IL: Open Court.Google Scholar
Moeller, H.-G. 2012. The Radical Luhmann. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Nassehi, A. 2003. Geschlossenheit und Offenheit. Studien zur Theorie der modernen Gesellschaft. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Parsons, T. 1951. The Social System. Glencoe, IL: Free Press.Google Scholar
Poggi, G., and Sciortino, G.. 2011. Great Minds: Encounters with Social Theory. Stanford. CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Sanderson, S. K. 2001. The Evolution of Human Sociality. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Schirmer, W. 2008. Bedrohungskommunikation. Eine gesellschaftstheoretische Studie zu Sicherheit und Unsicherheit. Wiesbaden: VS Verlag.Google Scholar
Schirmer, W., and Hadamek, C.. 2007. Steering as paradox: The ambiguous role of the political system in modern society. Cybernetics and Human Knowing 14(2–3):133–50.Google Scholar
Schirmer, W., and Michailakis, D.. 2011. The responsibility principle: Contradictions of priority-setting in Swedish healthcare. Acta Sociologica 54(3):267–82.Google Scholar
Schirmer, W., and Michailakis, D.. 2012. The latent function of “responsibility for one's health” in Swedish healthcare priority-setting. Health Sociology Review 21(1):3646.Google Scholar
Schirmer, W., and Michailakis, D.. 2015a. The help system and its reflection theory: A sociological observation of social work. Nordic Social Work Research 5(suppl. 1):7184.Google Scholar
Schirmer, W., and Michailakis, D.. 2015b. The Luhmannian approach to exclusion/inclusion and its relevance to social work. Journal of Social Work 15(1):4564.Google Scholar
Schirmer, W., and Michailakis, D.. 2015c. Social criticism with Luhmann's systems theory. Paper presented at the 5th International Conference on Sociology and Social Work, Chester, UK, August 26.Google Scholar
Schirmer, W., and Michailakis, D.. Forthcoming. Loneliness among older people as a social problem: The perspectives of medicine, religion and economy. Ageing & Society.Google Scholar
Simmel, G. 1968. The Conflict in Modern Culture. New York: Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Smalley, N., Scourfield, J., and Greenland, K.. 2005. Young people, gender and suicide: A review of research on the social context. Journal of Social Work 5(2):133–54.Google Scholar
Spector, M., and Kitsuse, J.. (1977) 1987. Constructing Social Problems. Hawthorne NY: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Spencer-Brown, G. 1994. Laws of Form. Portland, OR: Cognizer.Google Scholar
Stichweh, R. 2000. Zur Theorie der Weltgesellschaft. In Die Weltgesellschaft, edited by Stichweh, R., 728. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar
Süssenguth, F. 2015. The king's digital bodies. In Präsenzen 2.0, edited by Hahn, K. and Stempfhuber, M., 155–84. Wiesbaden: Springer Fachmedien.Google Scholar
Trevett, J. 2011. Statistik som skrämmer. Revansch 31(4):2.Google Scholar
Vanderstraeten, R. 2004. The social differentiation of the educational system. Sociology 38(2):255–72.Google Scholar
Von Foerster, H. 1984. Observing Systems. Seaside, CA: Intersystems.Google Scholar
Wallerstein, I. 1974. The rise and future demise of the world capitalist system: Concepts for comparative analysis. Comparative Studies in Society and History 16(4):387415.Google Scholar
Waltz, K. N. 1979. Theory of International Politics. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Watzlawick, P. 1984. The Invented Reality: How Do We Know What We Believe We Know? Contributions to Constructivism. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Watzlawick, P., Beavin, J., and Jackson, D.. 1967. Pragmatics of Human Communication: A Study of Interactional Patterns, Pathologies, and Paradoxes. New York: W. W. Norton.Google Scholar
Weick, K. 2001. Making Sense of the Organization. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Willke, H. 1992. Ironie des Staates. Frankfurt am Main: Suhrkamp.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure coreplatform@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×