Tristes Tropiques. Systems Theory and the Literary Scene

Abstract

In Niklas Luhmann’s later works on social exclusion, his concept of environment is no longer strictly epistemological but becomes increasingly ethnographic. From a systems theoretical point of view, environments are mere effects of social systems and their need to distinguish constantly between essential operations and operations that are of no consequence for the continuous reproduction of the systems’ identities. However, under certain circumstances environments turn out to be spatial. One could even say that on the analytical agenda the spatial dimension of exclusion takes precedence over the temporal dimension of sociality to the same degree that sociality becomes a primarily temporal reality - and systems theory describes its own approach as a turn to radical temporalization of all social structures. In these spaces or territories it is not communication that can be observed but human beings reduced to their bodily state. Having become a kind of container for socially unadressable bodies, this environment of the functionally differentiated world society does not require empirical social research or complex explanations, but the evidence-producing strategies of ethnographic fieldwork or simply travel notes.

Machine Learning and Postcolonial Critique: Homologous Challenges to Sociological Notions of Human Agency

“…Indeed, it has been argued that Luhmann's analysis of functional differentiation can be brought into productive dialogue with postcolonial studies (Eckstein and Reinfandt, 2016). On the other hand, Luhmann's account is clearly Eurocentric, to the degree that ways of life unfolding far from Europe are hardly recognisable to him and likened instead to mere bodily survival (see also Balke, 2002;Eckstein and Reinfandt, 2016). In other words, despite possibly constituting the most emphatic part of Luhmann's work, his analysis of areas of exclusion is founded on a distinction between 'us' and 'them', modernity and its flipside, portraying 'the other' in fearful terms, thereby invoking all those tropes postcolonial scholars have rightly criticised.…”

Between Scandal and Invisibility: Inequality, Human Rights and Effectiveness of Law in Brazil (And Its Sociology)

“…She recognizes further that the theme "inclusion/exclusion" began only in the early 90ies to question, inside Luhmann's theory, the primacy of functional differentiation. See alsoLUHMANN (1995c),BALKE (2002),NASSEHI (2012, pp. 404-405).13 Such statement should be read cum grano salis.…”

Entre eclusas e espelhos: a esférica pública vista a partir de uma leitura crítica de Niklas Luhmann e de debates contemporâneos

“…Este texto parte também de análise de favelas sulamericanas. Balke (2002, p 33 e ss) compara a observação exterior de Luhmann, em uma breve visita, àquela que Levi-Strauss relata em seus Tristes Trópicos. A fala de Luhmann é direta e questiona frontalmente a diferenciação funcional da sociedade moderna "Para a surpresa dos bem intencionados, devemos reconhecer que a exclusão ainda existe, e existe em uma escala massiva e em tamanhas formas de miséria que elas estão para além da descrição.…”