Theory of society. Volume 1 / Niklas Luhmann ; translated by Rhodes Barrett
- Author
- Luhmann, Niklas, 1927-1998
- Uniform Title
- Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft. English
- Published
- Stanford, Calif. : Stanford University Press, [2012]
- Copyright Date
- ©2012
- Physical Description
- 1 online resource (xiv, 461 pages).
- Additional Creators
- Barrett, Rhodes
Access Online
- Series
- Contents
- Preface; Translator's Note; 1. Society as a Social System; 1.1. The Sociological Theory of Society; 1.2. Preliminary Remarks on Methodology; 1.3. Meaning; 1.4. The Distinction Between System and Environment; 1.5. Society as a Comprehensive Social System; 1.6. Operational Closure and Structural Couplings; 1.7. Cognition; 1.8. Ecological Problems; 1.9. Complexity; 1.10. World Society; 1.11. Demands on Rationality; 2. Communication Media; 2.1. Medium and Form; 2.2. Dissemination Media and Success Media; 2.3. Language; 2.4. Morality and the Secrets of Religion; 2.5. Writing, 2.6. Printing2.7. Electronic Media; 2.8. Dissemination Media: Summary; 2.9. Symbolically Generalized Communication Media, 1: Function; 2.10. Symbolically Generalized Communication Media, 2: Differentiation; 2.11. Symbolically Generalized Communication Media, 3: Structures; 2.12. Symbolically Generalized Communication Media, 4: Self-Validation; 2.13. Moral Communication; 2.14. Effects on the Evolution of the Societal System; 3. Evolution; 3.1. Creation, Planning, Evolution; 3.2. Systems-Theoretical Basis; 3.3. The Neo-Darwinian Theory of Evolution; 3.4. The Variation of Elements, and 3.5. Selection Through Media3.6. The Restabilization of Systems; 3.7. Differentiation of Variation, Selection, and Restabilization; 3.8. Evolutionary Advances; 3.9. Technology; 3.10. The Evolution of Ideas; 3.11. The Evolution of Subsystems; 3.12. Evolution and History; 3.13. Memory; Notes; Index
- Summary
- This first volume of Niklas Luhmann's two-part final work was initially published in German in 1997. The culmination of his thirty-year theoretical project to reconceptualize sociology, it offers a comprehensive description of modern society on a scale not attempted since Talcott Parsons. Beginning with an account of the fluidity of meaning and the accordingly high improbability of successful communication, Luhmann analyzes a range of communicative media, including language, writing, the printing press, and electronic media as well as ""success media,"" such as money, power, truth, and lo.
- Subject(s)
- ISBN
- 9780804786478 (electronic bk.)
080478647X (electronic bk.)
9780804739498 (cloth ; alk. paper)
9780804739504 (pbk. ; alk. paper)
0804739498 - Note
- "Originally published in German under the title Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft."
- Bibliography Note
- Includes bibliographical references and index.
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