Chapter Summary

Sociology and Modern Systems Theory

Despite the checkered past of systems theory in sociology, some scholars have pointed to its advantages. Walter Buckley (1921-), for example, argued that systems theory provides a way to unify all the behavioral and social sciences; it is a multi-leveled approach; it is interested in many varied relationships in the social world; it emphasizes processes of information and communication; it is integrative; and it views the world in dynamic terms.

Buckley maintained that three different kinds of systems exist: mechanical, organic, and sociocultural. These three kinds of systems differ qualitatively as well as quantitatively — i.e., in terms of the way they work as well as their degree of complexity and instability. Systems may also be described in terms of the degree to which they are open or closed. Open systems (e.g., sociocultural systems) tend to respond to a greater range of fluctuations in the environment than closed systems do. Closed systems generally are entropic (i.e., they tend to break down), while open systems tend to be negentropic (i.e., they tend to elaborate structures).

Sociocultural systems are often purposive and goal-seeking due to their capacity to receive feedback from their environments. Feedback — which is key to the cybernetic approach to systems analysis — allows analysts to take into account change, growth, friction, and evolution in their studies of social systems. Moreover, systems theorists emphasize the importance of internal processes such as morphogenesis (processes of system change) and morphostasis (processes of system maintenance). Social systems develop mediating systems for the purposes of maintenance and change.

Niklas Luhmann's General Systems Theory

Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998) addressed the problems of structural-functionalism by focusing on self-reference and contingency (i.e., the fact that things could have developed differently) in systems. Luhmann maintained that systems are always less complex than their environments. Systems simplify by selecting pieces of information from the complexity of an environment. Since systems are forced to select from a plethora of pieces of information within an environment, the systems theorist must acknowledge the contingency of a system's selections, because the system could have selected differently. This contingency entails risk, because paying attention to some bits of information while ignoring others may have unforeseen consequences for the system if what is ignored is important to the user of the information.

Autopoietic systems, according to Luhmann, produce their own basic elements; they are self-organizing insofar as they create their own boundaries and internal structures; they are self-referential insofar as their elements refer to the system itself; and they are closed systems insofar as they do not deal directly with their environments, but rather with representations of their environments.

Society is an autopoietic system. According to Luhmann, the most basic element of society is communication, and anything that is not communication is part of a society's environment (e.g., biological and psychic systems). Both psychic and social systems — which are environments for each other — rely on meaning. In Luhmann's theory, meaning is comprehensible because of contingency. In other words, meaning emerges only because a specific action is different from other possible actions.

Double contingency refers to the fact that every communication must consider the way in which it will be received. In Luhmann's view, social structures (e.g., roles and norms) make it more likely that communications will be understood by both sender and receiver. Social structures also give communications some continuity over time. Double contingency thus provides much of the impetus for the evolution of social systems.

Luhmann's theory eschews teleological views of evolution — i.e., the outcomes of evolution are not predefined. Evolution, in Luhmann's view, is a set of processes that includes variation, selection, and the stabilization of reproducible characteristics. Note that the process of selection does not entail the choice of the best possible solution. Selections often occur not because they are optimal, but because they are the easiest to stabilize.

Luhmann's theory of differentiation is closely connected to his view of evolution. In Luhmann's view, differentiation is the means by which a system deals with changes in its environment. Differentiation tends to increase the amount of complexity in a given system — that is, as an environment changes, a system (e.g., a bureaucracy) will develop new departments in order to deal with such changes. Luhmann argues that four forms of differentiation occur: segmentary, stratificatory, center-periphery, and functional differentiation. The latter form of differentiation, according to Luhmann, is the most complex and problematic for modern society, since it means that problems are often displaced from the level of society to one of its subsystems (e.g., the problem of ecology).

Finally, Luhmann argues that society is a world society that may on be observed only from within the system. In Luhmann's view, knowledge of society may be gained through the observation of the relationship between a society and its semantics, or the way in which a society describes itself.

While Luhmann has made many contributions to sociological theory, one must acknowledge some criticisms of his work. First, many thinkers view his theory of evolution and functional differentiation as something to resist rather than embrace. Others question his notion of differentiation as development. They point to processes of de-differentiation and interpenetration as equally important counter-processes. Other scholars are skeptical of Luhmann's ability to describe the inter-relationships between systems. Moreover, many scholars cast doubt on Luhmann's sociology of knowledge as inconsistent.