Name: social systems
SKU: 1555965
Price: 1477.00 TWD
Availability: InStock
Author: Niklas Luhmann

Type

Physical Book

Author

Niklas Luhmann

Translated by

Dirk Baecker

John Bednarz

Publisher

Stanford University Press

Language

English

Format

Paperback

Dimensions

22.9x15.3x3.8 cm

Weight

0.92 kg.

ISBN

0804726256

ISBN13

9780804726252

Synopsis "social systems"

A major challenge confronting contemporary theory is to overcome its fixation on written narratives and the culture of print. In this presentation of a general theory of systems, Germany's most prominent and controversial social thinker sets out a contribution to sociology that reworks our understanding of meaning and communication. Luhmann concedes that there is no longer a binding representation of society within society, but refuses to describe this situation as a loss of legitimation or a crisis of representation. Instead, he proposes that we search for new ways of coping with the enforced selectivity that marks any self-description under the conditions of functionally differentiated modern society. For Luhmann, the end of metanarratives does not mean the end of theory, but a challenge to theory, an invitation to open itself to theoretical developments in a number of disciplines that, for quite some time, have been successfully working with cybernetic models that no longer require the fiction of the external observer. Social Systems provides the foundation for a theory of modern society that would be congruent with this new understanding of the world. One of the most important contributions to social theory of recent decades, it has implications for many disciplines beyond sociology.

Niklas Luhmann

(Author)

View Author's Page

Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998), studied law at the University of Freiburg and earned a doctoral degree. He is considered one of the most prominent pioneers of Sociological Systems Theory, whose innovative approach contrasted with that of Talcott Parsons, the most renowned theorist in the field during the 1960s, under whom he studied at Harvard University. He held various positions at the Universities of Münster, Frankfurt, and finally at the University of Bielefeld, where he remained until his retirement in 1993. His prolific work as a writer on diverse topics such as law, economics, politics, art, ecology, or mass media continued even after this date, culminating with his most important work: The Society of Society, published in 1997.

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