Systems Theory as an Alternative to Action Theory? The Rise of 'Communication' as a Theoretical Option

Abstract

The argument of the essay has two main parts. First, it reflects on the presumed conflict between action theories and systems theories in sociology. Looking at authors such as James Coleman, Talcott Parsons and Niklas Luhmann, the essay tries to show that there is a natural complementarity of action and systems theories, and therefore the presumed disjunction of 'action' and 'system' is not based on the empirical reality of theory-building ventures. But then another line of conflict becomes visible. Since the information theories of the late 1940s, 'communication theory' has become a viable and universalistic option in social theory, one that indeed conflicts with action theory. In its second part, the essay first gives a brief sketch of the conceptual career of communication theory since Shannon and Weaver. It then presents the sociological theory of Niklas Luhmann as the first major sociological theory that opts for communication as the constitutive element of society and other social systems. Causes and reasons for this theoretical decision are reconstructed, first in terms of problems internal to Niklas Luhmann's social theory (the distinction of psychic and social systems; the distinction of action and experience; formal properties of the concept of communication; the implications of autopoiesis) and secondly in terms of processes of societal change (the rise of the information society; the genesis of world society), which favour the switch towards a communication-based (instead of action-based) systems theory.

It's Not Just Counting the Women: Gender Diversity and Systems Engineering

“…A systems approach applied in the social sciences is not common, but several examples are starting to emerge (Palmer, 2017a). Research on communication in the social sciences is the area in which we can see a systems approach (Luhmann, 1993;Stichweh, 2000;Görke & Scholl, 2006). There are my offshoots of general systems theory, including sociological systems theory.…”

SISTEM KOMUNIKASI MASYARAKAT KEPULAUAN DAN KOMPLEKSITAS MULTI ETNIS (Studi Kasus Sistem Komunikasi Masyarakat Kepulauan dan Kompleksitas Multi Etnis di Pulau Sapeken, Kabupaten Sumenep, Madura)

“…Penelitian selanjutnya tentang sifat sistem yang tertutup (Nobles dan Schiff, 2004;Neves, 2001;Rothchild, 2009;Hessling dan Pahl, 2006;Besio dan Pronzini, 2011;von Groddeck, 2011;Stichweh, 2000). Fokus penelitian ini menekankan pada sistem yang membatasi diri dari lingkungan.…”

The End of Welfare as We Know It?

“…To the extent that a distinct reality (Leisering, 2004: 20; see also, e.g., Lamping and Schridde, 2004: 60;Leisering, 2005: 200;in part Achinger, 1958: 51;Luhmann, 1990: 26) of the German communicative context on the theme of welfare has now been identified, the concept of system seems useful here. If we understand the term "system" in strictly systems-theoretical terms, as designating a relatively closed communicative context in the sense of a distinct logic (see Stichweh, 2000), without resorting to a search for control instruments obviously exclusive to the welfare system, then it is perfectly justifiable to speak of a "welfare system" in the narrow, systems-theoretical sense-even if Luhmann himself never adopted this perspective (though see the "second generation" of sociological systems theorists following him: Willke, 1989b: 113-114;Willke, 1993: 93-94;Leisering, 2005: 259;Stichweh, 2005: 164-165; and more explicitly Kuchler, 2006: 13-15).…”