Unlocking Luhmann

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Unlocking Luhmann Claudio Baraldi, Giancarlo Corsi, Elena Esposito Unlocking Luhmann BiUP General Claudio Baraldi published several works in international books and journals on communication systems. His research concerns interaction systems related to fa- cilitation of children's participation, interlinguistic and intercultural mediation, conflict management. Giancarlo Corsi worked and published intensely on the theory of social systems, public opinion and communication media, education, career and social inclusion. His current research deals with the relationship between public sphere, mass me- dia, and new communication technologies. Elena Esposito published many works on the theory of social systems, media the- ory, memory theory, and sociology of financial markets. Her current research on algorithmic prediction is supported by a five-year Advanced Grant from the Euro- pean Research Council. Claudio Baraldi, Giancarlo Corsi, Elena Esposito Unlocking Luhmann A Keyword Introduction to Systems Theory Translation by Katherine Walker Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche National- bibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http:// dnb.d-nb.de This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 (BY- ND) license, which means that the text may be shared and redistributed, provided credit is given to the author, but may not be remixed, transformed or build upon. For details go to http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/ To create an adaptation, translation, or derivative of the original work, further permis- sion is required and can be obtained by contacting [email protected] Creative Commons license terms for re-use do not apply to any content (such as graphs, figures, photos, excerpts, etc.) not original to the Open Access publication and further permission may be required from the rights holder. The obligation to research and clear permission lies solely with the party re-using the material. © 2021 Bielefeld University Press An Imprint of transcript Verlag http://www.bielefeld-university-press.de Cover layout: Maria Arndt, Bielefeld Printed by Majuskel Medienproduktion GmbH, Wetzlar Print-ISBN 978-3-8376-5674-9 PDF-ISBN 978-3-8394-5674-3 https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839456743 Printed on permanent acid-free text paper. Contents Preface to the English Edition Claudio Baraldi, Giancarlo Corsi and Elena Esposito .................................. 9 Foreword to the Italian Edition Niklas Luhmann.....................................................................13 Introduction ..................................................................... 17 Ways to Read this Book ....................................................... 21 Art System (Kunstsystem) ................................................... 27 Asymmetrization (Asymmetrisierung) ......................................31 Attribution (Zurechnung)..................................................... 35 Autopoiesis..................................................................... 37 Code .............................................................................. 41 Communication (Kommunikation) .......................................... 45 Complexity (Komplexität) .................................................... 49 Conflict (Konflikt) ............................................................. 53 Constructivism (Konstruktivismus) ........................................ 57 Differentiation (Differenzierung/Ausdifferenzierung).................... 61 Differentiation of Society (Differenzierung der Gesellschaft) ......... 65 Dissemination Media (Verbreitungsmedien) ............................... 71 Double Contingency (Doppelte Kontingenz)............................... 75 Economic System (Wirtschaftssystem).................................... 79 Education System (Erziehungssystem) .................................... 83 Event (Ereignis)................................................................ 87 Evolution ......................................................................... 91 Expectations (Erwartungen)................................................. 95 Functional Analysis (Funktionale Analyse)................................ 99 Identity/Difference (Identität/Differenz).................................. 101 Inclusion/Exclusion (Inklusion/Exklusion) ............................... 105 Information.................................................................... 109 Interaction (Interaktion) ..................................................... 111 Interpenetration and Structural Coupling (Interpenetration und strukturelle Kopplung) ........................................................ 115 Language (Sprache)........................................................... 121 Legal System (Rechtssystem) .............................................. 125 Love (Liebe) ................................................................... 129 Mass media (Massenmedien) ............................................... 133 Meaning (Sinn) ................................................................ 137 Meaning Dimensions (Sinndimensionen) .................................. 141 Medical System (Krankensystem) ......................................... 145 Medium/Form ................................................................. 149 Morality (Moral) ................................................................ 151 Negation ....................................................................... 155 Operation/Observation (Operation/Beobachtung) ...................... 157 Organization (Organisation) ................................................ 163 Paradox (Paradoxie) ......................................................... 167 Political System (Politisches System) ..................................... 171 Power (Macht)................................................................. 175 Process (Prozess) .............................................................179 Program (Programm) ......................................................... 181 Property/Money (Eigentum/Geld) .......................................... 185 Protest ......................................................................... 187 Psychic Systems (Psychische Systeme).................................. 189 Rationality (Rationalität)..................................................... 191 Redundancy/Variety (Redundanz/Varietät) ............................. 193 Re-entry........................................................................ 195 Religious System (Religionssystem) .......................................197 Risk/Danger (Risiko/Gefahr) ............................................... 201 Scientific System (Wissenschaftssystem) ............................... 205 Self-description (Selbstbeschreibung) ................................... 209 Self-Reference (Selbstreferenz) ........................................... 213 Semantics (Semantik) ........................................................217 Social System (Soziales System) ...........................................221 Society (Gesellschaft) ....................................................... 223 Sociological Enlightenment (Soziologische Aufklärung) .............. 225 Structure (Struktur).......................................................... 227 Symbolically Generalized Media (Symbolisch generalisierte Kommunikationsmedien) .................................................... 229 System/Environment (System/Umwelt) .................................. 235 System of Families (System der Familien) ............................... 239 Time (Zeit)..................................................................... 243 Truth (Wahrheit) .............................................................. 247 Values (Werte) ................................................................ 251 World (Welt) ................................................................... 253 World Society (Weltgesellschaft) .......................................... 255 List of Luhmann’s works .................................................... 259 Preface to the English Edition Claudio Baraldi, Giancarlo Corsi and Elena Esposito The first edition of this book appeared in 1989 as a working tool forourstu- dents at the University of Urbino in Italy. In the reception of Niklas Luh- mann’s theory there is an interesting analogy between the situation in Italy in the 1980s and 1990s and the current situation of the English-speaking world: a growing interest in the theory and an increasing number of translations, powered by circles of enthusiastic scholars, but at the same time a widespread difficulty to familiarize with it, that has so far hindered a mainstream recog- nition. The situation is certainly connected with the characteristics of the theory itself, which is very complex and articulated, built on a network of concepts mutually related and referring to each other. Moreover, the theory is devel- oped in many books on topics that are often distant from each other (law and arts, mass media or economy, religion, politics, general systems theory, and more), yet always presupposing the entire theoretical construction and often referring to arguments presented in other texts. In Italy in those years, as in the English-speaking world today, there was an additional difficulty: not all books of Luhmann’s large production had been translated into Italian (or now English), so even
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