The mechanisms of evolutionary selection lie in those system processes which enable a reproduction of selection performances, i.e. in a higher-level selection of selections for reproduction. Reproduction means different things depending on the type of system and the level of evolution.
In the field of sociocultural evolution, it is no longer about the reproduction of cells or organisms, but about the reproduction of meaning. This presupposes communication.
The transmission of signals (what is commonly called the transmission performance of communication) is only the means to this end; the function of communication is to make possible the summarized reproduction of corresponding (or: approximately corresponding, similar, perhaps only stimulated, but discrepant) selection performances elsewhere. Thus, reproducible meaning must first and foremost be communicable. In this respect, language serves not only as a variation but also as a selection mechanism of evolution.
However, a recipient of communication always has the possibility to negate – be it not to continue communication, be it subsequently, but discrepantly, to seligate (seligieren). He can understand and reject selection offers – and nothing else is communication.
One must therefore distinguish between comprehensibility and acceptance of communications. Communications of everyday life generally seek not only intelligibility but also acceptance of their selection offers and are pre-selected for acceptance possibilities. Already the speaker and even more so the receiver of a communication thus perform a selective function in the direction of successful reproduction of meaning. This selective treatment of communications is a mass, everyday occurrence. It can be tested by Garfinkeleien.
As a permanent phenomenon of human coexistence enforced by the variation mechanism of language, it initially remains without major cultural-historical significance and almost without risk. Almost nothing depends on the acceptance or rejection in the individual case for the society itself and for its evolution. Nevertheless, with respect to the selective function of evolution, here lies the evolutionary potential, namely the possibility of forming independent selective mechanisms which change the conditions of selective success and adapt them to the development of the social system. Only the selective realization of the aspects of selective success of communications controls the evolution.
Evolution is therefore only possible by the fact that the share of the assumed and insofar effective communications in the total of occurring intelligible communications is variable. A not too low share should be a condition for interaction systems to continue interaction. In this respect interaction systems tend to keep the share of non-effective communication small. For social systems capable of evolution – and in this respect again the level differentiation discussed is significant – this tendency is no longer valid without further ado.
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LUHMANN, Niklas, 2018. Systemtheorie der Gesellschaft. 2. Aufl. Berlin: Suhrkamp. ISBN 978-3-518-58705-8, p. 336–337 f.
Harol Garfinkel, Studies in Ethnomethodology, Englewood Cliffs 1967