4 challenges for social regulation to be driven by meaning-imparting operations

What is it about?

Social regulation can take many forms; conventional rules, legal frameworks, as well as claims of morality can be used to encourage the behaviors deemed socially desirable. Niklas Luhmann's theory of meaning-constituting systems shows how social regulation can be driven by the constitution of meaning. It allow us to document what happens when communications are moralized, to explain how mutually-constituted expectations are used by meaning-systems for steering behaviors and to briefly identify specific challenges for social regulation.

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Photo by max im on Unsplash

Photo by max im on Unsplash

Why is it important?

Moralizing is an activity that seems more apt to promote conflicts in a given society than to encourage integration. In moralized conflicts, both sides usually claim to have a monopoly on what is good and right in order to publicly discredit and exclude the other side. Such a strategy can only put a stop to communications and further contacts.