SOCIAL SUBSYSTEMS
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(2) |
| ID | ◀ 3079 ▶ |
| Object type | Human sciences, Methodology or model |
As stated by O. THYSSEN (1995, p. 17): “Modern societies (as distinguished from traditional) are divided into functional subsystems such as economics, science, politics and intimacy”.
These distinctions are LUHMANN's, who also added religion andlaw .
THYSSEN adds: “Each subsystem is closed and creates its own domain allowing only certain operations . As a consequence, it is not possible to observe- or handle- society as a whole , as no vantage point exists from which to do so. As a further consequence it is not possible to talk about what is rational for society as a whole , or what will benefit society as a whole”.
And “A functional subsystem has limited possibilities of observing and cannot observe ”the world as it is“. Economics cannot observe ”real needs“ and politics cannot observe ”real voters“. What they can observe are diagrams showing changes in sales or in voter support” (Ibid)
This kind of global social agnosticism should possibly be relativized. There are clearly positive or negative symptoms of the state of a society as a whole. It sometimes loses coherence as a whole, particularly when the distinct subsystems enter in conflict and do not anymore negotiate stabilizing balances between their possibly conflictive needs, aims or beliefs . This is a result of disfunction of the social regulators and controls and, or inoperancy of A. SMITH “invisible hand”
This incipient trouble can readily been observed, through a spreading uneasiness and increasing civil protest or rebellion.