Social system

About: Social system is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 2974 publications have been published within this topic receiving 92395 citations.

The ideal of autonomy from the viewpoint of functional differentiation/integration of society†

Abstract: This article is an attempt to explain the reasons why autonomy has acquired today such a remarkable position in philosophic and political discourse as well as in political and social practice As a proponent of the system paradigm, I am far away from an idealistic humanism, which would attribute the range of a social ideal such as autonomy to the human, independent spirit On the contrary, regarding autonomy as an evaluative criterion for the decisions of many social systems (for example, of politics and economy, but also of education and health), I would argue that it should be examined in the context of the operations of these systems, in case the causes of its power should be clarified For that reason, I use the analytical tool of functional differentiation/integration of society based mainly on Luhmann's theory about social systems, yet without adopting the Luhmannian model regarding the binary codes of system self-reference By replacing the mechanism of binary coding of Luhmann with a group of values spread in the social functional systems by the ‘orders of discourse’ (as Foucault understands them), I would suggest reconsidering the Luhmannian theory of functional differentiation if we want to approach effectively the social phenomena of our era The view of this paper for autonomy as an intersystem evaluative criterion for the system's choices could be corroborated by applying the revised model Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd

Social exclusion, and educational opportunity : The case of British education policies within a European Union context

Abstract: This paper first examines the New Labour government's redefinition of equality of opportunity in Britain, mainly with regard to education and the ways in which it mediates ‘opportunity’. In doing so, it also draws on wider social policy issues, such as the use of education policies to combat social exclusion. Second, the paper reviews European Union policies and selected documents that address questions of social inclusion, social cohesion and the role of education in achieving those policy goals. The main argument is that both New Labour policies in Britain and the examined EU documents promote rather minimal understandings of the term ‘equality of opportunity’, while, education, in both cases, is given an enormous burden to carry in balancing increasingly liberalised market‐driven economies, with the requirements of a socially just society.

The Dialectic of Bottom-up and Top-down Emergence in Social Systems

Abstract: In this paper we will present a theoretical explanation of the relationship between so-called individual emergence and the emergence of social systems. We want to take as our point of departure the assumption that from the perspective of hierarchical systems theory self-organization on the level of social systems includes a bottom-up process as well as a top-down process. The bottom-up process refers to what in sociology is called agency, the top-down process refers to what is called structure. We will show that it is convenient to suggest that these processes be linked in a dialectical manner. In this respect we will discuss problems of determinism and indeterminism. This is the background against which we will try to clarify the notion of individual emergence. Our rather general considerations will be illustrated by how ideology, that is consciousness in a collective as well as an individual sense, is conceived of by a number of theories and how it should be conceived of when aspects of self-organization are included. We will conclude with a statement that makes clear why consciousness is a property of individuals that emerges only when individuals participate in society and why society emerges only when individuals are endowed with consciousness.

Niklas Luhmann's Theory of Autopoietic Legal Systems

Abstract: Between 1984 and his death in 1998, German sociologist Niklas Luhmann developed a comprehensive theory of what he called autopoietic or self-referential systems. He worked out this approach both at the level of a social system as a whole and at the level of various social subsystems, such as state, economy, science, religion, education, art, family, and—the concern of the present article—law. My particular topics in this critical introduction to Luhmann's theory are (a) its relation to more standard legal theory, (b) foundational or self-referential problems in law, and (c) the problem of law's relation to other social spheres, especially politics and the economy.