Observing Society: Meaning, Communication, and Social Systems By ...

they see in the social world. And when sociologists try to explain their observations to non-sociologists, they are often accused of merely wrapping up common sense in an overly complicated package. In this book, we demonstrate that sociologists can use the same concepts from social system theory to describe very different aspects of society. They can communicate their findings using a common theoretical vocabulary, even while describing how the distinctions they employ are limited, contingent, and self-constructed. Supported by a transparent epistemology, the concepts used by social system theorists are compelling because they can be applied universally, to all parts of society, even to sociology itself. Dispensing with the old grand narratives and profiting from recent advances in other fields of inquiry, contemporary social system theory extends the reach and increases the descriptive power of sociological discourse. As a consequence, social system theory promises to increase sociology's plausibility as a science, its research productivity, its connection to other disciplines, and its resonance with the public.

The Structure of This Book

This book is comprised of eight chapters. It begins with an epistemological account of observation that entails the drawing of a distinction and the indication of one side or another. Observing requires one to imagine differences such as system and environment, actual and potential, form and medium, information and utterance, or language and noise. Imagining a distinction sets the stage for an observer to meaningfully indicate or select a preference from a menu of alternatives. Sociologists are already familiar with the nature of scientific observation and with the methodology of participant observation, but our use of the term may come as a surprise. Social system theory takes a very precise approach to the problem of observing and extends this novel perspective throughout its reach. Our initial discussion specifies the influence of George Spencer Brown and relates his logic of observation to the philosophy of Alfred North Whitehead, the constructivism of Heinz von Foerster, and to the sociological work of other relevant thinkers. In this first chapter, we also