Social system

Social system is a central concept in sociological systems theory. With it, a border is marked for the ecosystem, the biological organism, for mental system and the technical system. They all form the environment of social systems. The minimum requirement for a social system is the interaction of at least two personal systems or roller doer.

The approaches Parsons ' and Luhmann

Within the sociological systems theory, there is a controversy as to what structural elements consist of social systems. According to Talcott Parsons there are actions with Niklas Luhmann, there are processes of communication that constitute social systems. Also communication is an act (eg, speech acts ) and superficially this seems a question of words to be. But in fact arise from the choice of the basic concept of theoretical and empirical consequences.

The concept of society as an example

So Parsons postulated in his theory of evolution, the emergence of a system of modern societies ( system of modern societies ), while Luhmann simply used in its system theory the term global society.

The action-theoretical framework allows sociologists to organize a variety of contemporary societies under a single functional point of view. Each of the companies is thus analyzed in a specific cultural tradition, territorially bounded by other companies, and is characterized by a specific normative social structure that shapes their values, institutions and roles. The " culture of modernity " united according to a variety of example American, English, French, German, Japanese, etc. development paths and contributions. Precursor of human social systems are primates hordes that are already structured. Social systems are therefore not arisen from rational decisions of men, but correspond to his innate behavioral disposition.

The other hand, communication theorists set the focus solely on what is being communicated. Informed whether in Brazil or in Bielefeld in a company or in the church, informed, understood or misunderstood, is the same thing here. The system for the "world society" important distinctions (eg, center / periphery, interaction / organization, stratification / functional differentiation ) are generated every day all over the globe at any moment by and in communication.

"Communication" Luhmann calls the operation that creates social systems and maintain. Communication follows on previous connection enabled communications to, maintaining them and making it always also a connection capable prerequisite for the following communications. No communication leaves the social system that is formed by them. Therefore, there is a clear contrast to the transmission model of communication. Rather, it is a self-referential process of generating communication by communication.

Luhmann's research program was therefore in search of " evolutionary achievements" from, allow or facilitate global communication and help to focus. These include, in addition to the dissemination of media print, radio, television, computers, the " symbolically generalized communication media ", whose main love, money, truth and power are.

Culture and Society

For systemic action theory, the concept of culture is a necessary part of their frame of reference. Communications and actions are embedded in a normative tissue to guarantee the probability of communication between actors. The system concept is inextricably linked to the notion of social order: any action that is meaningfully oriented to the normative horizon of society, contributes to the stabilization of the social system.

From the perspective of systemic theory of communication, it lacks the cultural concept of analytical selectivity. Their representatives be only interested in communicative events, which can be analytically resolved in the term triad of information, communication and understanding. The social system " society " is derived - according to this approach - just not from a normative preconceptions from, but always seems to be unlikely, precarious structure. Communicative misunderstandings and failed transmissions are far more likely than producing communication actions.

Jay Wright Forrester considers three counter-intuitive characteristics of social systems as important reasons of the causes are often very distant in space and time, identifying leverage points and opposing short-term and long-term consequences.

Political system

See: Political system

Legal system

See: Legal System