Niklas Luhmann: The Theorist of Society

Niklas Luhmann (1927-1998) was one of the most influential German sociologists of the 20th century. In almost forty years of research and teaching, he developed a functionalist-oriented systems theory based on the philosophical tradition on the one hand and on the reception of various concepts of modern science on the other, which claims to be able to describe all social phenomena in a uniform theoretical language. This unique work is documented by a large number of publications, all of which were ultimately part of a research project: the development of a theory that would allow an adequate description of modern society.

Luhmann's career did not initially look like that of a scientist: He studied law in Freiburg (1946-49) and then did the usual legal internship in his hometown of Lüneburg; then he worked for eight years (1954-62) in the public administration of the state of Lower Saxony, especially in the Ministry of Culture. During his legal clerkship, he wrote a dissertation on political consulting, which was not submitted. Even during these years, and especially later as a civil servant in Hanover, he devoted his free time to theoretical work, from the beginning not in the field of law, but in philosophy (phenomenology), organizational science and sociological theory. A period of study at Harvard (1960-61) with Talcott Parsons, the leading sociological systems theorist of the time, and a move to a research position at the University of Administrative Sciences in Speyer (1962-65) marked the transition to a different professional career. Luhmann's first books, which were published annually during this period (including "Verwaltungsfehler und Vertrauensschutz" (1963), "Öffentliche-rechtliche Entschädigung rechtspolitisch betrachtet" (1965), and "Theorie der Verwaltungswissenschaft" (1966)), corresponded to his administrative science position, but an independent sociological theory was already recognizable in the essays from 1962. The book fragment from 1963/64, now published under the title "Die Grenzen der Verwaltung" (2021), in which Luhmann wants to develop a theory of administration, can be understood as the starting point of his general theory of society and also of his theory of society.

We have no early writings by Luhmann, not even in his estate (with one exception: his legal dissertation "Die Organisation beratender Staatsorgane" from the 1950s); he appears to us from the beginning as an independent theorist who initially closely follows the systems theory developed by Talcott Parsons at Harvard, but builds on it anew. Luhmann also uses seemingly hidden small parts of Parsons' conceptual apparatus, but he does not build on it, but starts anew. This is a rare constellation in the history of science. A few fundamental decisions and points of difference should be briefly mentioned: System/environment is treated as a theory-guiding distinction much more decidedly than in Parsons and environment is seen as something that contains no guarantees of order. This makes system formation less likely. Luhmann works with an open and expandable list of functions and function systems and is not concerned with the classificatory performance of the concept of function, but with opening up possibilities for comparison: What alternative possibilities of function fulfillment can be identified? Every hierarchical-deductive moment is removed from the theory; instead, the theory is a heterarchical arrangement of partial theories – evolution theory, communication theory, differentiation theory – that simulates the form of modern society. The concept of time is no longer delegated to physics or Kant, but time is understood as one of the three constitutive dimensions of meaning, and in this respect the theory of time is an inescapable task of the sociologist. Linked to this is a "neo-Darwinian theory of evolution", which replaces Parsons' predominant thinking in terms of developmental trends. As early as the end of the 1960s, Luhmann replaced Parsons' idea of many societies integrated by regional solidarities with the postulate of a world society that is realized not through solidarity but through communicative networks as the only social system existing today. This forced him to revise the entire conceptual apparatus of sociology. All these facets of Luhmann's theoretical work were already presented in the first phase of his work, so that the first volume of "Sociological Enlightenment" (1970) made the ambition of the undertaking and the results already achieved visible to a wider audience for the first time.

Luhmann's professional career did not necessarily result from this production; it also depended on chance. Helmut Schelsky, then director of the Social Research Center in Dortmund and professor at the University of Münster, became aware of Luhmann's work as an administrative scientist in Speyer in the early 1960s. Schelsky, who was already involved in the planning of the University of Bielefeld, suggested that Luhmann complete his doctorate and habilitation in sociology, which he did in Münster in 1966 within six months ("Recht und Automation in der öffentlichen Verwaltung" (1966) and the monograph "Funktionen und Folgen formalisierter Organisation" (1964)). From the beginning, he obviously had an appointment at the newly founded University of Bielefeld in mind. Starting in the winter semester of 1966/67, Luhmann taught at the University of Münster, where he already presented the outlines of his future research program in his lectures. In the fall of 1968, before he actually began teaching in Bielefeld, he was appointed full professor of sociology, since Luhmann had also received a call to the University of Administration in Speyer. In the winter of the same year, Luhmann, who was not yet tied to teaching in Bielefeld and had two lectureships in Münster, took over the sociological part of Theodor W. Adorno's chair in Frankfurt. Subsequently, in 1969/70, the seminars initiated by Frankfurt students on the functionalist sociology of Jürgen Habermas led to a deepening of the contact with the then already prominent sociologist, which was published in the discussion volume "Theorie der Gesellschaft oder Sozialtechnologie" (Theory of Society or Social Technology). What Does Systems Research Achieve?" (1971). This controversy became a central part of the intellectual history of the Federal Republic of Germany and made Luhmann known beyond his narrow specialist audience.

Luhmann was present in Bielefeld from the beginning of the courses in the winter semester of 1969/70. The lectures took place on Mondays or Tuesdays in the afternoon, the seminars mostly in the evening; the external framework remained similar for decades. Luhmann offered joint seminars with a number of other lecturers and guests. The number of students was never very large. Luhmann had no pedagogical influence in Bielefeld, nor did he try to. Many of the students came from other disciplines and other cities, which was facilitated by the evening events. Luhmann's teaching was characterized by its universality. Every conceivable question for a sociologist could come up in the lectures, and one could count on Luhmann's curiosity and tolerance. On the other hand, each of these questions was treated and attempted to be answered in the medium of his own theory, which was a convincing realization of the unity of teaching and research. As a student, one did not necessarily have the impression of being involved in the development of Luhmann's theory, but one could observe it in statu nascendi. Another early focus of Luhmann's work was his travels. Since the Habermas/Luhmann controversy, he had become famous and accordingly in demand as a lecturer. Starting in the 1970s, many of his books were translated into other languages, which led to invitations to many countries. Luhmann always spoke freely, on the basis of a few notes, and given the difficulty of his texts, this was an attractive approach to his theory for many. In his case, the worldwide dissemination of the theory took the place of an incomplete education in Bielefeld. The advantages of this pattern are obvious when one considers the outward narrowness of many academic schools.

Above all, however, Luhmann read and wrote, and the famous Zettelkasten, certainly one of the best-known tourist attractions in East Westphalia, mediated between these two activities, even if not too many visitors reached this destination. The development of Luhmann's journalistic work follows the path of a constant expansion of the subject areas covered. The essays in which the development of the theoretical core of his work can be traced are collected in books entitled "Sociological Enlightenment" (Vol. 1-6, 1970-95) - the title of his inaugural lecture in Münster in January 1967. This theoretical core also includes books on symbolically generalized communication media such as "Trust" (1968) and "Power" (1975). As Luhmann always remained a lawyer and liked to use this self-designation, law was an important field of research, from which a two-volume "Rechtssoziologie" (1972) and a series of other books ("Grundrechte als Institution" (1965); "Legitimation durch Verfahren" (1969); "Rechtssystem und Rechtsdogmatik" (1974); "Ausdifferenzierung des Rechts" (1981)) (a sociological justification of legal dogmatics entitled "Kontingenz und Recht" (2013), written at the same time as "Rechtssoziologie", remained unpublished during his lifetime). With "Funktion der Religion" (1977), he presented his first major publication on religious studies. As in all his works, Luhmann opted for a comprehensive understanding of sociology that was not content with institutional or subject-specific analyses, but sought contact with the theories and semantics of lawyers, theologians, educators, etc. and was thus interdisciplinary in nature. His long-term collaboration with the Hamburg educationalist and entrepreneur Karl-Eberhard Schorr also began in the 1970s: from 1975 to 1977, the two worked on a monograph on the educational system in a lively correspondence with hundreds of notes, which was not published, but from which, among other things, the book "Reflexionsprobleme im Erziehungssystem" (1979) emerged, which initiated an intensive discussion of educational theory. A further focus is on historical studies. These are motivated by what is perhaps Luhmann's most important empirical thesis: in the 17th and 18th centuries, the form of differentiation in European society changed from a society divided into classes or estates to a functionally differentiated society. Four volumes of "Gesellschaftsstruktur und Semantik" (1980-1995) and the study "Liebe als Passion" (1982), which represents one of Luhmann's oldest interests and for which he developed the conceptual framework for a seminar in Dortmund in early 1969 (published from his estate under the title "Liebe. An Exercise" (2008)). One of the implications of the theory of functional differentiation is a loss of meaning of the political. Politics can no longer be thought of as the center or controlling authority of society. Accordingly, for Luhmann, political theory is only one of many theories about functional systems. He explored the consequences of this thesis in books such as "Political Planning" (1971) and "Political Theory in the Welfare State" (1981); a comprehensive "Political Sociology" (2010), written in 1966/67, remained unpublished during his lifetime.

It was only in 1984 that Luhmann decided to present a massive theoretical synthesis for the first time with his book "Social Systems". It is a general theory of social systems, which in this respect attempts to connect with the large complex of general systems theory, but in contrast to the latter moves exclusively in the area of social systems such as interaction, organization and society. One of the most important innovations of this book is the presentation of his theory of communication. Here Luhmann is the first influential sociological theorist ever to decide to regard Communication as the elementary operation responsible for the constitution of society: society, according to the thesis of this book, consists only of communication, and conversely, every communication that takes place in the world is part of the one social system that Luhmann calls world society. The other central theoretical decision of this book is to describe the social system and other social systems in terms of a theory of autopoietic systems. This goes back to the theory of the Chilean neurobiologist Humberto Maturana, which states that there are systems that produce all the elements and components that make them up through the processes and structures of the same system. Maturana asserts such a circular closure of the system at the level of elementary operations for the living cell, and Luhmann has attempted to implement an analogous design for the theory of social systems.

After the publication of "Social Systems", Luhmann turned to what he always described as his most important concern: monographs on the central functional systems of modern society and social theory as a theory of the comprehensive system that includes all these functional systems within itself. In Luhmann's own words, "Social Systems" forms the introductory chapter. "The Economy of Society" (1988), "The Science of Society" (1990), "The Law of Society" (1993) and "The Art of Society" (1995) were published in quick succession. Further monographs from this series – "The Politics of Society" (2000), "The Religion of Society" (2000) and "The Educational System of Society" (2002) – were begun in the mid-1990s, but not brought to final publication maturity. This is due to the fact that Luhmann primarily wrote the general theory of society during this time. New drafts of this core of the series have been circulating since the 1970s, which Luhmann also made available to colleagues and students who were interested. The 1975 version from the estate has since been published under the title "Systemtheorie der Gesellschaft" (2017); a fragmentary version from the 1960s and a version from the second half of the 1980s are also available for publication, which was actually intended to complete the social theory introduction "Soziale Systeme", but then remained unpublished in favor of another new version, which Luhmann tackled in 1989/90. The last book published by Luhmann himself was the fourth version in 1997: "The Society of Society", in the foreword to which he writes: "When I was admitted to the Faculty of Sociology at Bielefeld University, which was founded in 1969, I was confronted with the challenge of naming the research projects I was working on. My project was then and has been ever since: Theory of Society; duration: 30 years; costs: none. The difficulties of the project were realistically assessed in terms of duration."