Introduction to Systems Theory

by Niklas Luhmann, Peter Gilgen (Translator)

Niklas Luhmann ranks as one of the most important sociologists and social theorists of the twentieth century. Through his many books he developed a highly original form of systems theory that has been hugely influential in a wide variety of disciplines. In Introduction to Systems Theory , Luhmann explains the key ideas of general and sociological systems theory and supplies a wealth of examples to illustrate his approach. The book offers a wide range of concepts and theorems that can be applied to politics and the economy, religion and science, art and education, organization and the family. Moreover, Luhmann’s ideas address important contemporary issues in such diverse fields as cognitive science, ecology, and the study of social movements. This book provides all the necessary resources for readers to work through the foundations of systems theory – no other work by Luhmann is as clear and accessible as this. There is also much here that will be of great interest to more advanced scholars and practitioners in sociology and the social sciences.

Genres: Sociology, Philosophy, Nonfiction, Theory, Society, Science, Psychology

300 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Niklas Luhmann was a German sociologist, and a prominent thinker in systems theory, who is increasingly recognized as one of the most important social theorists of the 20th century.

Luhmann wrote prolifically, with more than 70 books and nearly 400 scholarly articles published on a variety of subjects, including law, economy, politics, art, religion, ecology, mass media, and love. While his theories have yet to make a major mark in American sociology, his theory is currently well known and popular in German sociology and has also been rather intensively received in Japan and Eastern Europe, including Russia. His relatively low profile elsewhere is partly due to the fact that translating his work is a difficult task, since his writing presents a challenge even to readers of German, including many sociologists. (p. xxvii Social System 1995)

Much of Luhmann's work directly deals with the operations of the legal system and his autopoietic theory of law is regarded as one of the more influential contributions to the sociology of law and socio-legal studies.

Luhmann is probably best known to North Americans for his debate with the critical theorist Jürgen Habermas over the potential of social systems theory. Like his one-time mentor Talcott Parsons, Luhmann is an advocate of "grand theory," although neither in the sense of philosophical foundationalism nor in the sense of "meta-narrative" as often invoked in the critical works of post-modernist writers. Rather, Luhmann's work tracks closer to complexity theory broadly speaking, in that it aims to address any aspect of social life within a universal theoretical framework - of which the diversity of subjects he wrote about is an indication. Luhmann's theory is sometimes dismissed as highly abstract and complex, particularly within the Anglophone world, whereas his work has had a more lasting influence on scholars from German-speaking countries, Scandinavia and Italy.

Luhmann himself described his theory as "labyrinth-like" or "non-linear" and claimed he was deliberately keeping his prose enigmatic to prevent it from being understood "too quickly", which would only produce simplistic misunderstandings.

Reviews

[Schedex]

"Ich habe Gründe für die Annahme, die ich jetzt nicht umfangreich ausbreiten kann, dass in der modernen Gesellschaft die Beobachtung der Beobachter, das Verlagern von Realitätsbewusstsein auf die Beschreibung von Beschreibungen, auf das Wahrnehmen dessen, was andere sagen oder was andere nicht sagen, die avancierte Art, Welt wahrzunehmen, geworden ist, und zwar in allen wichtigen Funktionsbereichen, in der Wissenschaft ebenso wie in der Ökonomie, in der Kunst ebenso wie in der Politik. Man informiert sich über Sachverhalte nur durch Blick auf das, was andere darüber sagen. Man selbst kann auch ein anderer sein, man braucht nicht dasselbe für wahr zu halten, aber wenn man sich dazu kritisch einstellen wollte, müsste man sich selbst beobachten und sich überlegen, welche Gründe man hat, diese Meinung nicht zu teilen, diese Mode zu überspringen, diese Politik für schlecht zu halten, obwohl andere sie für gut halten. In dem Konzept des Beobachters wird, ich sage das im Moment noch sehr vage, eine bestimmte Modernität und im Vergleich zur Tradition ein Realitätsverlust formuliert. Wir brauchen nicht mehr zu wissen, wie die Welt ist, wenn wir wissen, wie sie beobachtet wird, und wenn wir uns im Bereich der Beobachtung zweiter Ordnung orientieren können."

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was excellent. It's a transcription of a lecture series which Luhmann delivered to his students in the early 1990s. He walks them clearly and carefully through the general architecture of his theoretical approach, explaining the theoretical decisions he made along the way and his relation to Parsons, Husserl, cybernetics and others. He highlights various theoretical loose ends that remained in his project at the time, demonstrating an openness to experimentation and innovation, as we as a meticulous attention to conceptual detail. Peppered throughout are relatable examples, witty asides and even the odd joke. The book strikes an excellent balance between accessibility and intellectual depth.
Luhmann is often described as a difficult and impenetrable thinker, but I definitely didn't think that was the case here. If anything, I found these lectures arresting in their unyielding precision and clarity. On almost every page I felt my thoughts being shifted in fundamental ways as old sociological ideas like social action, the subject, conflict vs order theory, values, withered under Luhmann's penetrating glare. Sociological enlightenment indeed.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think I would have given this three stars if I weren't already reading Han-Georg Moeller's "Luhmann Explained" -- less that I needed the explanation of the disciple to get that extra star of juice...more that I needed the enthusiasm of the disciple. Moeller shows how what might seem like common sense in Luhmann really does represent a somewhat revolutionary perspective for the discipline of Social Sciences (with which I'm less acquainted that the poststructuralist, cybernetic, and information theory upon which Luhmann draws).

[Kai Weber · Rating 4 out of 5]

The word "constructivism" is hardly ever mentioned, and if so, only in passing. But what Luhmann presents here is a prime example of how to construct a theory. The book consists of transcriptions of a lecture series at Bielefeld university in the winter semester of 1991/92, and the professor takes his audience onto the journey of laying the foundations to a sociological systems theory. Well, actually, though Luhmann is a sociologist, the theory maybe is not fully so. It draws inspirations from philosophy, biology, linguistics, cybernetics, and can be (re-)applied to these subjects, to psychology, or to sociology.
The matter is highly abstract, but the colloquial nature of oral lectures softens this a bit, and while Luhmann's theoretical elaborations and constructivist decisions are purely driven by theoretical concerns, he manages to show what consequences a theoretical decision might have when applied to concrete, empirical subject matters.
As Luhmann himself says in the end, the word "Introduction" ("Einführung") in the title doesn't mean it's meant to be easy, simple or for beginners. It rather means to set a certain starting point (in this case Luhmann chose the theories of Talcott Parsons and Humberto Maturana) and to develop/construct a theory further from this point forward. Given the certain amount of concentration that the reading of such an abstract book takes, it is a rather enjoyable tour de force in the end. The end, however, seems a bit random, a few lecture sessions more to bind some of the looser threads together would have been great.

[Ramiro Gómez-Villerías]

This is the clearest exposition of Luhman's core notions of system thinking, including those books designed to explain him.

[Expboid Colleagues · Rating 4 out of 5]

"... based on Luhmann’s ideas, social systems are ‘autopoietic’ entities. Autopoietic systems have concrete structure and can learn, change and evolve by time within the boundary of the system in relation to the other systems. According to Luhmann, an autopoietic system which is more than to be an ‘autonomous system’, is ‘differentiated and closed’ from other systems and operates with communication through its own specific code and program. In short, ‘autopoiesis’ is the idea of self-producing and maintaining internal logic and boundaries through communication and information processing..."*

There are many books about systems, but a few about using systems concepts and methods in social systems realm. Some books are pure and technical and some other are ‘long storytelling’ with systems thinking skills ‘buried’ in the amazing puzzles! While systems science implies ‘polyphony’ in its nature, but in practice, there is ‘monophony’ in using it with titles dedicated to specific fields such as business. Texts written by the systems theory pioneers, emphasize on some ‘key points’ which are not present in the texts in social systems realm. Social systems texts are complex and suffer from ambiguities in reaching to a rational, concrete and comprehensive concept of a formal social system. Systems concepts and methods are useful in almost all the knowledge fields and transdisciplinary general text books for different audiences, especially in social systems and sciences realm, can help the readers in their daily dealings and scientific studies.

See the book:
* Systems Science and Social Systems: (Towards a Formal Theory of Social Systems)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0F14YXJL7
https://www.amazon.com/dp/9198187546
This book, tries to establish a ‘common terminology and platform’ to present the ‘generic concepts and methods of systems’ and extend it to the social systems realm.

[محمد جلال · Rating 5 out of 5]

رغم لغة المؤلف الغير سهلة، أقر بعظمة هذا الكتاب.