Observing society
Subtitle: meaning, communication, and social systems
By: Daniel B. Lee and Achim Brosziewski.
Contributors: Brosziewski, Achim.
Publisher: Cambria Press
Published: 2009
Place of publication: Amherst, NY
Language: eng
Number of pages: 238
ISBN-13: 9781604976397
Subjects: Social systems; System theory; Sociology
Description: "This book introduces the resources of contemporary social system theory, as pioneered by the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann and associated theorists. Luhmann's theory is very different from the general systems approach that dominated sociological thought for several decades after the Second World War. Norms and functions are not seen as fundamental premises of social systems and social order. Rather meaning, communication, and observation are set into the core of social life and its analysis. Meaning is seen as a medium that couples psychic and social systems or consciousness and communication. Observation is described as the introduction of distinctions and selections, and communication is the basic operation that connects observations and thereby allows for the emergence of observers: persons, interaction systems, organizations, and functional subsystems of society, such as the economy, politics, law, and art. Society itself is conceived as the encompassing unity of all communication, a universal set of references that makes observation and communication possible." "Observing Society: Meaning, Communication, and Social Systems concisely outlines how social system theory offers sociologists an integrated set of practical and general analytical concepts, a promising agenda for scholarly inquiry, and a cutting-edge description of modern society. Using clear illustrations and effectively citing original material previously unavailable in English, Daniel Lee and Achim Brosziewski carefully explain the logic of drawing distinctions to make observations, the concepts of meaning and communication, the forms of communication media such as speech and writing, the evolution of forms of organizing society, the functional differentiation of modern systems, and how social system theory informs sociological research and methodology."--Jacket.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references and index.
Table of contents: title: Distinctions: observation, meaning, and the reduction of complexity; title: Communication: the unity of information, utterance, and understanding; title: Psychic systems: subjectivity, objectivity, and understanding; title: Language: a medium of communication; title: Symbolically generalized media: encouraging the success of communication; title: Differentiating social systems: society, interactions, and organizations; title: Forms of society: connectivity and boundaries.