Form and Medium in Luhmann’s Systems Theory

Abstract

While the concepts of metric and nonmetric aim at describing different social forms, the latter co-exist side by side in social reality, thus making for the possibility of one form impacting on another. To account for these conditions, this chapter turns to Niklas Luhmann to discuss his concept of medium. After a quick overview of Luhmann’s systems theory, the chapter develops a critical reflection in order to introduce the concept of crowd as a medium in itself—not any crowd, but a metaphorical crowd made out of countless individuals and extending infinitely in all directions—and makes the point that communications as operations of social systems taking place inside that crowd need not be always reduced to a conversation between two participants (dyadic model). The second half of the chapter discusses Luhmann’s theory of modernity and shows how his analysis, once partially adapted, correlates with the metric/nonmetric distinction.