POWER, CONTINGENCY AND SOCIAL ORDER IN THE THEORY OF SYMBOLIC GENERALIZED MEDIA OF NIKLAS LUHMANN

Abstract

In this article we reconstruct the meaning that assumes the problem of social order in the theory of generalized symbolic communication media proposed by Niklas Luhmann. The hypothesis that we develop states that in this theory a partial subordination of the sociological problem of social order to the question of the improbable conditions of possibility of control and/or regulation of action is produced. This is, the problem of power achieves prominence. We consider that this fact is observable in the context of the different valuations that Luhmann attributes to the contingency of action and their relations to the theory of social order. The proposed reconstruction becomes meaningful as it shows a form of the problem that differs from the sociological tradition for which the conceptual problem of order relates to the ways in which it can be conceived or explained but not in the difficulties related to their formation.