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

present the theory to a larger audience, to students in particular, without sacrificing authenticity and intellectual depth. Our strategy incorporates three techniques: we allow Luhmann and other contributors to speak in their own words as often as possible, we consistently name components of the theory so that they may be easily recognized in successive chapters and also traced back to their original sources, and we illustrate difficult concepts with clear and accessible examples. We hope that this book will provide a foundation upon which readers may build, whether they decide to contribute to the theory or search for another way to develop sociological thought.

We believe that social system theory solves important problems that have long confounded sociological theorists. The distinction between microscopic and macroscopic sociological analysis, for instance, has divided theorists into relatively autonomous and mutually resistant camps. Although several influential sociologists have attempted to integrate, synthesize, or form linkages between micro- and macro-level analysis (Alexander et al. 1987), the conceptual tools and methodologies that could support constructive conversations within the discipline have proven elusive so far. Jeffrey Alexander, for example, proposed a general theory that “allows us to link action more closely to meaning as actors themselves experience it and to the cultural forms” that structure meaning (1998:220); but he ended championing a collectivist and normative perspective and rejecting micro- or individual-level analysis (1985). Randall Collins proposed another general theory; but he ended up describing himself as a radical micro-sociologist. All macro-level social phenomena, he asserted, can be traced to interaction ritual chains produced at the micro level (1981; 2005). We could discuss other attempts to integrate micro- and macro-level analysis, but our interest is limited to explaining how social system theorists aim to observe communication at every level of analysis, from the dyad to world society, and from interactions to organizations and functional systems of society. One must always select the social system to observe, but the theory has no inherent preference for micro or macro levels of analysis. Every system is observed at the same level of abstraction and described with the same theoretical resources. In addition, social system theory explains how social