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Example research essay topic: Social Systems Social Theory - 2,081 words

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... as he is perhaps the one social theorist who most radically reacted against the tautological use of power and its ubiquity. Luhmann is the one holiest who cuts power down like individualists. Hence, the following analysis will be done in two steps. First, my argument will be to demonstrate the way Luhmann's social theory deliberately underplays the phenomenon of power. This will be shown by analyzing the shifts in Luhmann's general theory which do not leave the concept of power untouched.

Indeed, there are three concepts of power in Luhmann. The last reserves a very limited place to power. We already know what kind of power will be discussed in the following paragraphs. Luhmann defines power as a medium of communication which, in his theoretical shift towards autopoiesis, is sufficiently tied to one and only one social system, namely politics. Second, he moves away from classical stratification theories in sociology by positioning all social systems: the political system is removed from its prior place. None of these moves alone would diminish the significance of power, only both together.

To the contrary, keeping only one of the two theoretical decisions would potentially increase the role of power in social theory. In our movie, Nicks application of power would appear to be meaningless without existence of the system, which would except this power. We have a system, consisting of two objects, communicating with each other by the means of power, pursuing their own goals. This is how the social system can be briefly described. Luhmann bases his understanding of power mainly on the social exchange and community power literature.

This is interesting, since this type of literature has an individualist understanding of social interaction and is therefore meta-theoretically incompatible with Luhmann's functionalist approach. The basic inspiration of this literature is the definition of power as getting somebody else to do something against his or her will. As a result, this literature defines power as a causal concept, but not of the earlier mechanic version. Luhmann takes will or preferences seriously and hence this conceptualization of power needs to refer to both individual and interactive preference rankings and foregone alternatives. Luhmann would insist that power is a relational, not to be confused with a relative, concept. In other words, power does not reside in capabilities but in the effect those can have in the relationship between actors.

Power is, finally, a counterfactual concept, since it means that action has been affected which would have been different otherwise. This literature work had been written as an open attack against elitist approaches, insisting on the empirical verifiability of power claims, something a functionalist approach would have difficulties to meet. Therefore, empirical studies had to be carried out in clearly delineating the issue areas where power would obtain analyses which took the form of decision-making studies. (Meyrowitz, 1985: 127). Luhmann redefined social systems as being realized in a domain of 'communications'. In other words, the constituent elements of the social system are communications. The necessary conditions for autopoiesis are met in terms of such communications.

This has the advantage of describing the system in terms of its operational characteristics, independent from the specific participants in that system at any given time. In our case, we can consider Nick-Darcy relations in terms of their social circumstances: Darcy turned to be at the Nicks place, causing him to act. According to Luhmann's perception of the society, we can consider the chosen system as technically described objects, which behave according to their behavioral standards and values, at the same time, excluding human factor. (Johnson, 1994: 237). Luhmann's theory of autopoietic systems appears to be described as politically reactionary.

It happens in the strength of fact that it negates any possibility of social change. It might be a proof though for Luhmann's theory that this very critique made him a famous and influential thinker. In our case, this social change happens, but we consider the system at its first stage, and we also consider interaction within this system. Continuing our speculation on the approach, it has to be said that while Luhmann was a sociologist indeed, it appears that also the non-Luhmannian attempts to employ systems theory as a literary theory always boiled down to sociology. Systems theory helps to analyze how art and literature work as social systems. There might be, however, an exception: namely those artworks which are autopoietic systems themselves. ''System Theory'' is a descriptor for structural parallels in social / biological /technical systems. (Mingers, 1995: 38).

Luhmann's approach to understanding structuration as follows: "Whereas Parsons defines a social system to consist of socially structured actions, Luhmann defines it to consist of conceptually structured meanings." In his mature phase, Luhmann bases his system theory on the idea of autopoiesis. It is usually considered a very consequent and also consequential move in his theory. Before the exploration the medium of communication (power), that is very brightly represented in our movie, we have to understand the basic idea of Luhmann's late system theory. As we already know, Luhmann social theory is a theory of systems. He distinguishes physical, psychic and social systems. Systems have an internal side and an external environment, consisting of other systems.

Between social systems, there can be predetermined relations, which Luhmann's theory calls 'structural coupling', in our case Nick and Darcy. Psychic and social systems are conceptualized in an isomorphic way. It is considered that systems come to exist when they reproduce themselves, and by following an internal logic driven by a system-specific binary code. For instance, the social system science which has become autonomous in well differentiated societies, functions according to the code 'true / untrue '.

The system builds up certain expectations about its environment which it then sees confirmed or not, in a binary way. It puts Luhmann's approach in a very comfortable position, giving an opportunity to explain everything in the sense of duality. (Boulding, 1996: 26). Luhmann's concept of power was to be heavily reduced in its reach by combining two theoretical decisions. Luhmann ties power increasingly to one system, politics, which, in turn, is no longer given prominence among the subsystems of society. The turn to his biology-inspired autopoiesis, and not a kind of hermeneutic reproduction, might require both.

In 1975, Luhmann started with a very wide concept of power, which, as all generated media of communication, is omnipresent in society. The move to autopoiesis as a central concept of systems implied for Luhmann, that every reference to humans had to be replaced by physical, psychic or social systems. That move which is perfectly coherent within his theory has, however, rather profound consequences for the conceptualization of the media of communication. In particular, it does exactly what Luhmann admonishes in this early quote: it ties specific media closer to 'their's ub-systems. This results, first, from the need to have a code-steered autopoiesis which occurs in operative closure.

This code, in turn, is a binary expression of the media of communication. Second, dissolving the human behind systems means that the link from one subsystem to another can no longer be made by communicative interactions which might carry several media of communication at the same time. Power is such a medium of communication. (Boulding, 1996: 27). We see how Nick practices his ability not only on Darcy, but other women also. He finds out that it works, gaining the experience and confidence in his actions.

Media of communication, like power or money, are seen to have developed as a response to the rising complexity of modern societies. In our movie the power is demonstrated in application of the ability to read minds. As in his entire theorizing, Luhmann is interested in the ways systems have been able to cope with increasing complexity. With the development of accrued distance between information, understanding and acceptance / refusal , symbolically generated media of communication become necessary for their function of reducing complexity, of reducing the uncertainty of selection processes. They create motivations for the acceptance of communication. They thus avoid this distance to make communication too complicated, or even impossible.

Coming back to the social systems and institutions of our movie, we will take Luhmann's theory of self-organizing and self-reproducing social systems as our point of start, taking the elements in the social system to be the representing actors, and understanding the relations that constitute the system as relations of representation. How does the representation process relate to systems? In what sense are systems the result of representation processes and how does a system influence the process of representation? Taking the semiotic perspective as our point of departure, we can safely assume that social system is an important prerequisite for the development of conceptual, coded representations. These signs consist of the unity of a signifier and a signified, and this unity is based upon conventions. Conventions, however, presuppose system.

In turn, they make it easier to build and maintain complex systems. The two, therefore, strongly reinforce each other... (Kelvey, 1997: 251). In all its complexity, the representation process thus functions on the basis of the structure of the human organism, the social organization and the structure of reality. But for the time being we can state that the coded sign, the unity of signifier and signified (or form and meaning), is first and foremost a social fact. No codes without systems. If codes presuppose systems, and if organizations presuppose codes, we should ask ourselves whether organizations will emphasize coded representations.

Probably they will, but for the moment this is an open question. (Boulding, 1996: 32). Human relations are very complex. They form very complex systems and organizations, and it becomes interesting how a personal perception system like an individual can determine himself and communicate with the external system through power, defined by the codes mentioned above. So, basically, the conversation was about describing systems, and the question was which came first codes or systems. In our case, it has importance in sense which came first: the ability in the result of the situation at work, or situation cause appearance of the abilities. I think, we can examine the Nicks superficial ability as the code.

The functional system of Nick and Darcy relations and its complexity / differentiation must be seen as a feature of every social formation. Now, we will consider how an organization can influence the semiotic process of pattern- problem-solving or how it can deal with its constitutive part / elements ? First of all by forcing upon its members interpretation patterns, as well as pattern-problem-solving strategies. This is done through learning, and socialization, like it is stated: our behavior is learned behavior. Secondly, by being an actuality that requires representation and interpretation, leaving place for our imagination, which, in its turn, derives from our experience. And thirdly, by constituting an environment in which all sorts of representations are at stake, emerging and changing due to the organizational interaction. (Kelvey, 1997: 252).

As we have already seen, Luhmann has not provided a comprehensive definition of the space in which his 'communications' are manifested. Luhmann tries to work with concept of communicative acts rather than people. This involves him in working under two alternative ontologies and leads to a presentation which is less clear and satisfying than much of his earlier work. In the end, it has to be said that the basic tension in the phenomenons identity, which was described, is featured in each social formation. The only way to overcome tension in social systems is to create rules of relations to escape possible abuse of power.

Luhmann's ideas are most persuasive in his specific application of the principles to the field of law, where highly-structured 'communications' are more easily considered as a network unto themselves than is the case for most enterprises. Bibliography: Boulding K. Evolution, Order and Complexity. Routledge, London, 1996. Kelvey B. Natural organization science.

Complexity theory. Organization Science, 8: 251 - 284, 1997. Maturana H. and F. Varela.

Autopoiesis and Cognition: The Realization of the Living. D. Reidel, Boston, MA, 1980. Mingers J.

Self-producing systems: Implications and applications of autopoiesis. Plenum, New York, NY, 1995. Johnson, James and Dana R. Villa. "Public Sphere, Postmodernism and Polemic. " American Political Science Review, June 1994, n. 2. pp. 237 - 244. Meyrowitz, Joshua.

No Sense of Place. Oxford: Oxford U. Press. 1985. Page G.

Family and Culture. London: Tavistock. 1987. Peters, J. D. Historical Tensions in the Concept of Public Opinion. New York: Guilford Press. 1995.

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