Week 9: Systems Theory

This chapter begins with some of Walter Buckley’s early thoughts on the nature of systems theory. There are various gains to be derived from a sociological system theory, including a common vocabulary across hard sciences and various social sciences, applicability at both the micro and macro levels, analysis of the social world as a whole, a focus on processes, an integrative perspective, and dynamic orientation.

A variety of principles of systems theory are discussed, including the degree to which systems are open or closed, tend to run down (entropy), tend to elaborate structures (negentropy), are characterized by feedback, and feature processes that help the system maintain itself (morphostasis) and grow (morphogenesis). Buckley applied systems theory to consciousness, interaction, and the socio-cultural domain.

Today’s most important systems theorist is Niklas Luhmann. Among other things, Luhmann sees systems as self-referencing, as contingent, and as always less complex than the environment. Systems must reduce complexity; they cannot be as complex as their environment or they would be overwhelmed and unable to function. Luhmann’s most important contribution is his sense of systems as being autopoietic. That is, systems produce their own basic elements, they organize their own boundaries and the relationships among their internal structures, they are self-referential, and they are closed. It is the view of systems as autopoietic and closed to their environments that differentiates Luhmann’s approach from that of earlier systems theorists. Two of the systems singled out for analysis by Luhmann are the social and the psychic systems. Social systems are plagued by the problem of double contingency—every communication must take into account how it is received, but how it is received depends on the receiver’s estimation of the communicator. Because of this, communication is improbable, but social structures have developed to make communication more probable.

Luhmann is concerned with evolution involving three mechanisms—variation, selection, and stabilization. Modern society deals with the increasing complexity of its environment through a process of differentiation. Differentiation leads to increasing complexity of the system and allows for a greater ability to respond to the environ- ment, as well as to faster evolution. Luhmann identifies four forms of differentiation— segmentary, stratificatory, center-periphery, and functional. It is the last that is the most complex form of differentiation and the one that dominates modern society. It allows for greater system flexibility, but if one functionally differentiated system fails to perform its function, the system as a whole may fail. Furthermore, it is possible that society will not have a functionally differentiated subsystem capable of handling an important problem.