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A Systems Theory of Society

Edited by Johannes Schmidt and André Kieserling in collaboration with Christoph Gesigora
Suhrkamp | Insel
Rights sold to:

Korea (Saemulgyul)


A Systems Theory of Society / Systemtheorie der Gesellschaft
Edited by Johannes Schmidt and André Kieserling in collaboration with Christoph Gesigora
The making of … systems theory

»If our society had to agree upon a symbol, it would most likely not be a sphere, a cross, or a line, but the dizzying exponential curve.«

»Theme: theory of society; duration: 30 years; costs: none« – so ran Niklas Luhman’s infamous answer at the end of the 1960s in regard to his research project. The schedule was kept: in 1997 Theory of Society, Luhmann’s magnum opus and the key element of the project, was published.

 

As important as this work is, its background is also remarkable. For, as the sociologist’s unpublished writings show, over the course...

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»Theme: theory of society; duration: 30 years; costs: none« – so ran Niklas Luhman’s infamous answer at the end of the 1960s in regard to his research project. The schedule was kept: in 1997 Theory of Society, Luhmann’s magnum opus and the key element of the project, was published.

 

As important as this work is, its background is also remarkable. For, as the sociologist’s unpublished writings show, over the course of decades he had written many polished and stand-alone versions of his theory of society that were ready for publication. In 1975 he brought to a close the first of these on almost one thousand typescript pages.

It is without a doubt the most sociologically comprehensive version of a global theory of society that emerged from Luhmann’s unique research project, and now it is being published for the very first time under the title A Systems Theory of Society.

2017, 1132 pages
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Niklas Luhmann (1927 – 1998) was professor of Sociology at the University of Bielefeld.

Niklas Luhmann (1927 – 1998) was professor of Sociology at the University of Bielefeld.


OTHER PUBLICATIONS

Sociology Among Attendees
Year of Publication: 2024
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 2024
In 1966, the starting signal was given for a unique career in German-language sociology: Not only did Niklas Luhmann receive his doctorate and habilitation at the University of Münster, he also began working on presenting his programme of sociology as a science of social systems without further ado. In just four years, he sketched the foundations of his research programme for the next...
The Limits of Administration
Year of Publication: 2021
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 2021
After several years of working for the ministerial administration of Lower Saxony and a stay with Talcott Parsons at Harvard, Niklas Luhmann, who had studied law, began to work at the University of Administrative Sciences in Speyer in the early 1960s. That’s where he developed the draft of a general theory of administration, designed as a new foundation for administrative science,...
The New Boss
Year of Publication: 2016
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 2016

Every organisation, as stolid as it may be, experiences a certain shock when a new manager or director is about to take over. Water cooler gossip increases, every advance in knowledge is...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Polity), Netherlands (Boom), Korea (Theorie Publishing), Turkey (VakifBank)

Contingency and the Law
Year of Publication: 2013
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 2013
What can sociology contribute to modern legal theory? This was one of the central questions that continued to preoccupy Niklas Luhmann, the great sociologist who also held a law degree and...
Rights sold to:

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Trotta)

Power in the System
Year of Publication: 2012
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 2012
What is power? Is it something you take over from someone and hold for a certain amount of time before passing it on to someone else – like a refrigerator, a second-hand car, or a...
Rights sold to:

Spanish world rights (Herder)

Political Sociology
Year of Publication: 2010
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 2010
Luhmann developed his theory of politics when he was standing in for Theodor W. Adorno in Frankfurt in the 1960s. The book at hand is the first one to offer a comprehensive account of Niklas...
Rights sold to:

Korea (Ghil); previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Trotta)

Love
Year of Publication: 2008
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 2008
Niklas Luhmann sees the communicative basis of what we refer to as love in the acknowledgement of foreign experience through one's own action. His classic »Love as Passion« published in 1982...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Polity), France (Diaphanes), Korea (Theorie Publishing)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish rights / Latin America (Prometeo), Chinese complex rights (Wu-Nan), Italy (MIM), Turkey (Edebi)

The Morals of Society
Year of Publication: 2008
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 2008
Morality is commonly understood to be the domain of philosophy. And therefore it could appear all the more surprising that Niklas Luhmann – one of the most influential representatives of sociology in...
Rights sold to:

Poland (selection; Academicon); previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Trotta), Japan (Keiso Shobo)

A Systems Theory of Religion
Year of Publication: 2000
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 2000

The classics of sociology had regarded the sociology of religion a vital part of social theory; also, and especially, when faced with modern society, supposedly created so far removed from...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Stanford UP), Spanish world rights (Trotta), Italy (Franco Angeli), Korea (Theorie Publishing), Czech Republic (Karolinum); previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Chinese complex rights (Business Weekly), Japan (Hosei UP)

Theory of Society
Year of Publication: 1998
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 1998
Niklas Luhmann worked on an encomapssing theory of society with great consistency and care over the last three decades of his life, and this is now brought forward in Theory of Society.

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Stanford UP), Spanish world rights (Herder), Chinese simplex rights (The Commercial Press), France (Exils), Italy (Quodlibet), Denmark (Reitzels), Korea (Saemulgyul), Japan (Hosei UP), Estonia (Eksa); previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Russia (Logos), Croatia (Breza)

Art as a Social System
Year of Publication: 1997
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 1997

Under the title Art as a Social System, this book offers a series of publications that serve the elaboration of a theory of society. The entire undertaking – Theory of Society...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Stanford UP),  Korea (Hangilsa)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Herder), Chinese complex rights (Wu-Nan), Italy (MIM), Japan (Hosei UP)

Law as a Social System
Year of Publication: 1993
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 1993
»Modern systems theory provides a new method for the analysis of society through an examination of the structures of its communications. In this volume, Niklas Luhmann, the theory's leading...
Rights sold to:

English world rights (Oxford UP), Spanish world rights (Herder), Chinese simplex rights (The Commercial Press), Chinese complex rights (Wu-Nan), France (Pu Laval), Korea (Saemulgyul), Japan (Hosei UP), Czech Republic (Stredisko); previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Brazilian Portuguese rights (Martins Editora), Italy (Giappichelli), Croatia (Breza)

Love as Passion
Year of Publication: 1982
Niklas LuhmannYear of Publication: 1982

In this important book Niklas Luhmann - one of the leading social thinkers of the late 20th century - analyses the emergence of »love« as the basis of personal relationships in modern...

Rights sold to:

English world rights (Polity), Chinese simplex rights (East China Normal UP), Chinese complex rights (Wu-Nan), France (Aubier Montaigne / Flammarion), Korea (Saemulgyul), Turkey (Livera)

Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Peninsula), Portuguese rights (Difel), Italy (Pearson), Sweden (Liber AB), Japan (Bokutakusha), Poland (Scholar), Czech Republic (Prostor), Hungary (Joszöveg Mühely), Romania (Tact), Croatia (Naklada MD), Serbia (Zoran Stojanovic), Slovenia (Krtina)


DISCOVER

News
Marking the 25th anniversary of the passing of sociologist Niklas Luhmann
News
Luhmann is considered the most important German representative of sociological systems theory.