Topic
Social system
About: Social system is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2974 publications have been published within this topic receiving 92395 citations.
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TL;DR: It is argued that the Belgian experience with the siting of a radioactive waste repository demonstrates that the creation of an environment in which experts and citizens can enter into dialogue as individuals, rather than as representatives of interests or (scientific) disciplines, can help bridge differences in the rationality and jargon of systems, and result in finding common ground.
Abstract: Experience to date demonstrates that it remains challenging to engage experts and concerned citizens in a meaningful and mutually comprehensive dialogue on complex and technical risk‐bearing projects. In search of an explanation we found Niklas Luhmann's interpretation of modern society very useful. Luhmann describes modern society as the aggregate of more or less self‐sufficient functional subsystems becoming more and more isolated from each other in a spiral of progressive specialisation. With each system developing its own expectations, language, rationality and ways of observing and interpreting reality, communication between systems becomes progressively problematic; according to Luhmann, even impossible. Contrary to Luhmann, however, we consider communicating human beings (and not communication in itself) the constituting elements of society. From that perspective we see a connection with Ulrich Beck's thesis on modern society as an individualised risk society and his call for ‘reflexive science and...
33 citations
TL;DR: In the context of public relations practice, the social systemic public relations paradigm as discussed by the authors has been widely used as a framework for reflection on the public relations phenomenon, with the aim of re-establishing the system's coupling to the lifeworld, while setting out normative ideals for the practice.
Abstract: To get beneath the surface of the focal concepts of public relations practice today, the major sociological theories of Jurgen Habermas and Niklas Luhmann have been fruitful as frames of interpretation Two paradigms for reflection on the public relations phenomenon have been developed on their theories: the inter‐subjective and the social systemic public relations paradigms These paradigms indicate fundamentally different interpretations of the concepts of conflict and social responsibility, with crucial consequences for the role of public relations in today's social order Each perspective has its blind spots but the switching of perspectives allows us to see more Habermas's theories make it possible to disclose the ideal perception which seems to prevail in the self‐understanding of public relations practice while, at the same time, setting out normative ideals for the practice The ideal in the inter‐subjective paradigm is to re‐establish the system's coupling to the lifeworld The public relations practitioner must act as an individual through communicative action Public relations is a matter of ethical issues in a normative perspective We might also call this the ethical, communicative or normative paradigm of public relations The keyword is legitimation in post‐conventional discourse society Luhmann's theories make it possible to disclose the social systemic mechanisms that can be viewed as the framework for public relations practice, and to set out functional conditions for that practice The functions of the social systemic paradigm are to assist in maintaining the boundaries of the organisation system through strategic reflection and to assist in ensuring that society's differentiated system logics can function autonomously because they also understand how to function together The sphere of action of the public relations practitioner is defined by the social systems Public relations is a matter of functional issues in a cognitive perspective We might also call this the functional, reflective or cognitive paradigm of public relations The keyword is public trust in the context‐regulated society This paper is based on a thesis by the author entitled: ‘The Inter‐subjective and the Social Systemic Public Relations Paradigms’, University of Roskilde, April 1996, also to be published in English
32 citations
01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: Medical sociologists have tended to pay less attention to the distal forces of societal-level institutions, focusing instead on the more proximate micro- and meso-level determinants of individual health.
Abstract: Social scientists have long been interested in the link between societal processes and individual outcomes. The founders of sociology were interested in how social integration affected suicide rates (Durkheim 1951 [1897]), how the social organization of labor relations impacted worker experience (Marx and Engels 1964 [1848]), how religious principles translated into individuals’ work ethics (Weber 1930), how modern society impacted mental health (Simmel 1950), how mental health institutions shaped individual inmates (Goffman 1961) or how the social system impacted health care utilization (Parsons 1951). All addressed issues of health, illness, and healing in one way or another, yet medical sociologists have tended to pay less attention to the distal forces of societal-level institutions, focusing instead on the more proximate micro- and meso-level determinants of individual health.
32 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1999
TL;DR: The contributions of Talcott Parsons to the study of modernity can be found in this article, where the authors discuss the development of the Sociology of religion and its application in American society.
Abstract: Acknowledgments. Introduction: The Contributions of Talcott Parsons to the Study of Modernity. Part I: Religion and Modern Society:. 1. Christianity and Modern Industrial Society. 2. Belief, Unbelief and Disbelief. 3. Religous Symbolization and Death. 4. The Symbolic Environment of Modern Economies. Part II: Life, Sex and Death: . 5. Illness and the Role of the Physician. 6. Towards a Healthy Maturity. 7. The Gift of Life and Its Reciprocation. Part III: Sociological Theory:. 8. The Theoretical Development of the Sociology of Religion. 9. Evolutionary Universals in Society. 10. Pattern Variables Revisited. Part IV: American Society and the World Order: . 11. Social Strains in America. 12. The Distribution of Power in American Society. 13. Order and Community in the International Social System. 14. Polarization of the World and International Order. 15. Youth in the Context of American Society. 16. Death in American Society. 17. Religion in Post--Industrial America. Bibliography of Talcott Parsons. Selected Bibliograpy (in English) on the Sociology of Talcott Parsons. Chronologyy of the Life of Talcott Parsons. Index.
32 citations
TL;DR: In birds, only one study supports the hypothesis that social learning is an adaptive specialisation to social living, and in nonhuman primates, social group size and social learning frequency are not correlated.
Abstract: Sociality may not be a defining feature of social learning. Complex
social systems have been predicted to favour the evolution of social
learning, but the evidence for this relationship is weak. In birds, only one
study supports the hypothesis that social learning is an adaptive specialisation
to social living. In nonhuman primates, social group size and social
learning frequency are not correlated. Though cetaceans may prove an exception,
they provide a useful group with which to test these ideas.
32 citations