Law as a Social System
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)
Luhmann argues that current thinking about how law operates within a modern society is seriously deficient. He lays out the theoretical and methodological tools that, he argues, can advance our understanding of...
Luhmann argues that current thinking about how law operates within a modern society is seriously deficient. He lays out the theoretical and methodological tools that, he argues, can advance our understanding of contemporary society and in particular of the identity, performance, and function of the legal system within that society. In systems theory, society is its communications: they are its empirical reality; the items that can be observed and studied. Systems theory identifies how communications operate within a physical world and how different sub-systems of communication operate alongside each other.
In this volume, Luhmann uses systems theory to address a question central to legal theory: what differentiates law from other social practices? However, unlike conventional legal theory this volume seeks to provide an answer in terms of a general social theory: a methodology that answers the question in a manner applicable not only to law, but also to all the other complex and highly differentiated systems within modern society, such as politics, the economy, religion, the media, and education. This sociological approach offers profound insights into the relationships between law and other social systems.« (description from the English edition by Oxford UP)
Persons
Niklas Luhmann
Niklas Luhmann (1927–1998) was professor of sociology at the University of Bielefeld and a major social theorist. As the most prominent German proponent of sociological systems theory, his work has become one of the key contributions to 20th-century sociology.
Niklas Luhmann (1927–1998) was professor of sociology at the University of Bielefeld and a major social theorist. As the most prominent...
OTHER PUBLICATIONS
Sociology Among Attendees
The Limits of Administration
A Systems Theory of Society
»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...
Korea (Saemulgyul)
The New Boss
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...
English world rights (Polity), Netherlands (Boom), Korea (Theorie Publishing), Turkey (VakifBank)
Contingency and the Law
Previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Trotta)
Power in the System
Spanish world rights (Herder)
Political Sociology
Korea (Ghil); previously published in the respective language / territory; rights available again: Spanish world rights (Trotta)
Love
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
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
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...
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
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
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...
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)
Love as Passion
He argues that, while family systems remained intact in the transition from traditional to modern societies, a semantics for love developed to accommodate extra-marital relationships; this...
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)