- See articles: sociology, sociological theory, social theory, and system theory
Differentiation is a term in system theory (found in sociology), from the viewpoint of this theory the principal feature of modern society is the increased process of system differentiation as a way of dealing with the complexity of its environment. Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" Sociological Theory is a peer-reviewed journal published by Blackwell Publishing for the American Sociological Association since 1983 Social theory is an essential tool used by scholars in the analysis of society through the use of theoretical frameworks social structures and phenomena are analyzed and placed in context Systems theory is an Interdisciplinary field of Science and the study of the nature of Complex systems in Nature, Society, and Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" The word theory has many distinct meanings in different fields of Knowledge, depending on their methodologies and the context of discussion. A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek systēma is a set of interacting or interdependent Entities, real or abstract In general usage complexity often tends to be used to characterize something with many parts in intricate arrangement The social environment (context, also known as the Milieu, is the identical or similar Social positions and Social roles as a whole that influence the individuals This is accomplished through the creation of subsystems in an effort to copy within a system the difference between it and the environment. System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek systēma is a set of interacting or interdependent Entities, real or abstract The differentiation process is a means of increasing the complexity of a system, since each subsystem can make different connections with other subsystems. It allows for more variation within the system in order to respond to variation in the environment. Increased variation facilitated by differentiation not only allows for better responses to the environment, but also allows for faster evolution (or perhaps sociocultural evolution), which is defined sociologically as a process of selection from variation; the more differentiation (and thus variation) that is available, the better the selection (Ritzer 2007:95-96). eVolution is the third Album by eLDee, it was due to be released in 2008 Sociocultural evolution(ism is an umbrella term for theories of cultural evolution and Social evolution, describing how Cultures and societies Genetic diversity is a level of Biodiversity that refers to the total number of genetic characteristics in the genetic makeup of a species
Society, Luhmann argues, has to be conceived as a system made up of discrete subsystems. Any of these subsystems could be given “functional primacy” over the rest but no subsystem can be taken as the privileged point of departure for sociological analysis. Social research refers to Research conducted by Social scientists (primarily within Sociology and Social psychology) but also within other disciplines Instead of reducing society as a whole to one of its subsystems, i. e. ; Karl Marx and Economics, or Hans Kelsen and Law, Luhmann bases his analysis on the idea that society is a self differentiating system that will, in order to attain mastery over an environment that is always more complex than it, increase its own complexity through a proliferating of subsystems. Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Hans Kelsen ( October 11, 1881 – April 19, 1973) was an Austrian American Jurist. Law is a system of rules enforced through a set of Institutions used as an instrument to underpin civil obedience politics economics and society And, just as society for Luhmann cannot be reduced to any one of its subsystems, so too its subsystems cannot be reduced to specific institutions. Institutions are structures and mechanisms of Social order and Cooperation governing the Behavior of a Set of Individuals “Religion” is more extensive than the church, “politics” transcends the governmental apparatus, and “economics” encompasses more than the sum total of organizations of production. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions For the government of parliamentary systems see Executive (government. Economics is the social science that studies the production distribution, and consumption of goods and services. An organization (or organisation &mdash see spelling differences) is a social arrangement which pursues collective goals which controls its own performance and (Holmes et al 1983).
There are four Types of Differentiation Segmentation, Stratification, Center-Periphery, and Functional
Niklas Luhmann
- see main article Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann (December 8, 1927 - November 6, 1998) was a German sociologist and "social systems theorist", as well as one the most prominent modern day thinkers in the sociological systems theory. Niklas Luhmann ( December 8, 1927 - November 6, 1998) was a German Sociologist, administration expert and a prominent Events 1609 - Biblioteca Ambrosiana opens its reading room the second public library of Europe. Year 1927 ( MCMXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Events 355 - Roman Emperor Constantius II promotes his cousin Julian to the rank of Caesar, entrusting him with Year 1998 ( MCMXCVIII) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link will display full 1998 Gregorian calendar) Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany ( ˈbʊndəsʁepuˌbliːk ˈdɔʏtʃlant is a Country in Central Europe. Sociology (from Latin: socius "companion" and the suffix -ology "the study of" from Greek λόγος lógos "knowledge" Luhmann was born in Lüneburg, Germany, studied law at the University of Freiburg from 1946 to 1949, in 1961 he went to Harvard, where he met and studied under Talcott Parsons, then the world's most influential social systems theorist. Lüneburg, also known as Lueneburg and Lunenburg in English, is a City in Lower Saxony, Germany. Talcott Parsons ( December 13, 1902 - May 8, 1979) was an American sociologist, who served on the faculty of Harvard University In later years, Luhmann dismissed Parsons' theory, developing a rival approach of his own. His magnum opus, Die Gesellschaft der Gesellschaft ("The Society of Society"), appeared in 1997 and has been subject to much review and critique since.
Segmentary Differentiation
Segmentary Differentiation divides parts of the system on the basis of the need to fulfill identical functions over and over. In engineering in psychology as well as in common parlance function denotes the property of something which is used/applied for an objective/ goal / Purpose / Scope For instance, an automobile manufacturer has functionally similar factories for the production of cars at many different locations. The automotive industry is the industry involved in the design development manufacture marketing and sale of Motor vehicles In 2007 more than 73 million motor vehicles A factory (previously manufactory) or manufacturing plant is an industrial Building where workers manufacture goods Every location is organized in much the same way; each has the same structure and fulfills the same function – producing cars (Ritzer 2007:96).
Stratifactory Differentiation
Stratificatory Differentiation is a vertical differentiation according to rank or status in a system conceived as a hierarchy. RANK (Receptor Activator of Nuclear Factor κ B, also known as TRANCE Receptor is a type I membrane protein which is expressed on the surface of Osteoclasts and is involved @@@ main@@@ - title Hierarchy@@@ keywords structure; sociology; information@@@ review@@@ - Every rank fulfills a particular and distinct function in the system, for instance (and to return to the automobile analogy) the automoible manufacturing company president, the plant manager, trickling down to the assembly line worker. President is a Title leaders of Organizations companies, Trade unions universities, and countries. ManaGeR ( MGR) is a graphical Window system. The MGR server provides a builtin Window manager and windowed graphics Terminal emulation on color An assembly line is a Manufacturing process in which parts (usually Interchangeable parts) are added to a product in a sequential manner using optimally planned In Segmentary Differentiation inequality is an accidental variance and serves no essential function, however, inequality is systemic in the function of Stratified system. In Mathematics, an inequality is a statement about the relative size or order of two objects or about whether they are the same or not (See also equality A stratified system is more concerned with the higher ranks (president, manager) than it is with the lower ranks (assembly worker) with regard to "influential communication. " However, the ranks are dependent on each other and the social system will collapse unless all ranks realize their functions. Social structure is a term frequently used in Sociology and Social theory — yet rarely defined or clearly conceptualised (Abercrombie et al This type of system tends to necessitate the lower ranks to initiate conflict in order to shift the influential communication to their level. Conflict is a state of discord caused by the actual or perceived opposition of Needs values and interests (Ritzer 2007:97).
Center-Periphery Differentiation
Center-Periphery Differentiation is a link between Segmentary and Stratificatory, an example is again, automobile firms, may have built factories in other countries, nevertheless the headquarters for the company remains the center ruling, and to whatever extent controlling, the peripheral factories (Ritzer 2007: 98). In Political geography and International politics, a country is a Political division of a geographical entity Headquarters (HQ denotes the location where most if not all of the important functions of an organization are concentrated
Functional Differentiation
Functional Differentiation is the form that dominates modern society and is also the most complex form of differentiation. All functions within a system become ascribed to a particular unit/location. UNIT ( U nited N ations I ntelligence T askforce later the UN ified I ntelligence T askforce is a fictional military Again, citing the automobile firm as an example, it may be "functionally differentiated" departmentally, having a production department, administration, accounting, planning, personnel, etc. Functional Differentiation tends to be more flexible than Stratifactory, but just as a stratified system is dependent on all rank, in a Functional system if one part fails to fulfill its task, the whole system will have great difficulty surviving. However, as long as each unit is able to fulfill its separate function, the differentiated units become largely independent; functionally differentiated systems are a complex mixture of interdependence and independence. Not to be confused with Interconnectivity or Interconnectedness. E. g. , the planning division may be dependent on the accounting division for economic data, but so long as the data is accurately compiled the planning division can be ignorant of the methodology involved to collect the data, interdependence yet independence (Ritzer 2007:98).
Code
Code is a way to distinguish elements within a system from those elements not belonging to that system. It is the basic language of a functional system. Examples are truth for the science system, payment for the economic system, legality for the legal system; its purpose is to limit the kinds of permissible communication. Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding System (from Latin systēma, in turn from Greek systēma is a set of interacting or interdependent Entities, real or abstract A payment is the transfer of wealth from one party (such as a person or company to another An economic system is a System that involves the production, distribution and consumption of goods and services between The principle of legality is the legal ideal that requires all law to be clear ascertainable and non-retrospective The three major legal systems of the world today consist of civil law, Common law and Religious law. Communication is the process of conveying information from a sender to a receiver with the use of a medium in which the communicated information is understood the same way According to Luhmann a system will only understand and use its own code, and will not understand nor use the code of another system; there is no way to import the code of one system into another because the systems are closed and can only react to things within their environment (Ritzer 2007:100).
Understanding the Risk of Complexity
It is exemplified that in Segmentary differentiation if a segment fails to fulfill its function it does not affect or threaten the larger system. If an auto plant in Michigan stops production this does not threaten the overall system, or the plants in other locations. However, as complexity increases so does the risk of system breakdown. If a rank structure in a Stratified system fails, it threatens the system; a Center-Periphery system might be threatened if the control measure, or the Center/Headquarters failed; and in a Functionally differentiated system, due to the existence of interdependence despite independence the failure of one unit will cause a problem for the social system, possibly leading to its breakdown. The growth of complexity increases the abilities of a system to deal with its environment, but complexity increases the risk of system breakdown. It is important to note that more complex systems do not necessarily exclude less complex systems, in some instances the more complex system may require the existence of the less complex system to function (Ritzer 2007:98-100).
Differentiation and Modern Social Theory
Luhmann uses the operative distinction between system and environment to determine that society is a complex system which replicates the system/environment distinction to form internal subsystems. Science is among these internally differentiated social systems, and within this system is the sub-system sociology. Here, in the system sociology, Luhmann finds himself again, an observer observing society. Observation is either an activity of a living being (such as a Human) which senses and assimilates the Knowledge of a Phenomenon, or the recording of data His knowledge of society as an internally differentiated system is a contingent observation made from within one of the specialized function-systems he observes. He concludes, therefore, that any social theory claiming universal status must take this contingency into account. Once one uses the basic system/environment distinction, then none of the traditional philosophical or sociological distinctions – transcendental and empirical, subject and object, ideology and science – can eliminate the contingency of enforced selectivity. A central concept in Science and the Scientific method is that all Evidence must be empirical, or empirically based that is dependent on evidence According to a tradition that can be tracked back to Aristotle, every sentence can be divided in two main constituents, one being the subject of the sentence and the An object in Grammar is a Sentence element and part of the sentence predicate. An ideology is a set of beliefs aims and Ideas especially in politics Science (from the Latin scientia, meaning " Knowledge " or "knowing" is the effort to discover, and increase human understanding Thus, Luhmann’s theory of social systems breaks not only with all forms of transcendentalism, but with the philosophy of history as well (Knodt and Rasch 1994). Transcendentalism was a group of new ideas in Literature, Religion, Culture, and Philosophy that emerged in New England in the
Luhmann is criticized as being self referential and repetitive, this is because a system is forced to observe society from within society. Systems theory, for its part, unfolds this paradox with the notion that the observer observes society from within a subsystem (in this case: sociology) of a subsystem (science) of the social system. A paradox is a true statement or group of statements that leads to a Contradiction or a situation which defies intuition; or inversely Its descriptions are thus “society of society” (Luhmann and Ward 2000).
Differentiation: Luhmann's Critique of Grand Theory
Luhmann felt that the society that thematized itself as political society misunderstood itself. It was simply a social system in which a newly differentiated political subsystem had functional primacy. Luhmann analyzes the Marxist approach to an economy based society: In this theory, the concept of economic society is understood to denote a new type of society in which production, and beyond that “a metabolically founded system of needs” replaces politics as the central social process. Marxism is the political philosophy and practice derived from the work of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. Politics Politics is the process by which groups of people make decisions From another perspective also characteristic of Marxist thought, the term “bourgeois society” is meant to signify that a politically defined ruling segment is now replaced as the dominant stratum by the owners of property. A society is a Population of Humans characterized by patterns of relationships between individuals that share a distinctive Culture and Institutions Luhmann’s reservations concerning not only Marxist, but also bourgeois theories of economic society parallel his criticisms of Aristotelian political philosophy as a theory of political society. Both theories make the understandable error of "pars pro toto", of taking the part for the whole, which in this context means identifying a social subsystem with the whole of society. Pars pro toto is Latin for "(taking a part for the whole" where a portion of an object or concept represents the entire object or context The error can be traced to the dramatic nature of the emergence of each subsystem and its functional primacy (for a time) in relation to the other spheres of society. Nevertheless, the functional primacy claimed for the economy should not have led to asserting an economic permeation of all spheres of life. The notion of the economy possessing functional primacy is compatible with the well-known circumstance that the political subsystem not only grew increasingly differentiated (from religion, morals, and customs if not from the economy) but also continued to increase in size and internal complexity over the course of the entire capitalist epoch. A religion is a set of Tenets and practices often centered upon specific Supernatural and moral claims about Reality, the Cosmos Morality (from the Latin la moralitas "manner character proper behavior" has three principal meanings Customs is an Authority or agency in a Country responsible for collecting and safeguarding customs duties and for controlling the flow of goods An economy is the realized social system of production exchange distribution and consumption of goods and services of a country or other area Capitalism is the Economic system in which the Means of production are owned by private Persons and operated for Profit and where For functional primacy need only imply that the internal complexity of a given subsystem is the greatest, and that the new developmental stage of society is characterized by tasks and problems originating primarily in this sphere (Arato and Luhmann 1994).
Useful External Links
- This is a current but brief sociologically based commentary on Lyotard’s book, also briefly cites Luhmann
References
Arato, Andrew and Niklas Luhmann. Niklas Luhmann ( December 8, 1927 - November 6, 1998) was a German Sociologist, administration expert and a prominent 1994. “Civil Society and Political Theory in the Work of Luhmann and Beyond” New German Critique, No. 61, Special Issue on Niklas Luhmann. Retrieved April 24, 2007 Available: JSTOR Scholarly Journal Archive. Events 1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century. JSTOR (short for Journal Storage) is a United States -based online system for archiving Academic journals founded in 1995
Holmes, Stephen, Charles Larmore, Niklas Luhmann, and James Schmidt. Niklas Luhmann ( December 8, 1927 - November 6, 1998) was a German Sociologist, administration expert and a prominent 1983. “Review: Luhmann in English- The Differentiation of Society” Contemporary Sociology, Vol. 12, No. 2. Retrieved April 24, 2007 Available: JSTOR Scholarly Journal Archive. Events 1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
Knodt, Eva M. and William Rasch. 1994. “Systems Theory and the System of Theory” New German Critique, No. 61, Special Issue on Niklas Luhmann. Niklas Luhmann ( December 8, 1927 - November 6, 1998) was a German Sociologist, administration expert and a prominent Retrieved April 24, 2007 Available: JSTOR Scholarly Journal Archive. Events 1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
Luhmann, Niklas and Sean Ward. 2000. “Die Gesellshcaft der Gesellschaft” The German Quarterly, Vol. 73, No. 2. Retrieved April 24, 2007 Available: JSTOR Scholarly Journal Archive. Events 1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
Naustdalslid, Jon. 1977. “A Multi-Level Approach to the Study of Center- Periphery Systems and Socio-Economic Change” Journal of Peace Research, Vol. 14, No. 3. Retrieved April 24, 2007 Available: JSTOR Scholarly Journal Archive. Events 1479 BC - Thutmose III ascends to the throne of Egypt, although power effectively shifts to Hatshepsut (according to Year 2007 ( MMVII) was a Common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar in the 21st century.
Ritzer, George. 2007. Contemporary Sociological Theory and Its Classical Roots, The Basics, Second Edition. New York, NY: McGraw Hill. New York ( is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous The McGraw-Hill Companies Inc, ( is a Publicly traded corporation headquartered in Rockefeller Center in New York City.
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