A Sociological Theory of Communication, Loet Leydesdorff, Book

Synopsis

Networks of communication evolve in terms of reflexive exchanges. The codification of these reflections in

language, that is, at the social level, can be considered as the operating system of society. Under sociologically

specifiable conditions, the discursive reconstructions can be expected to make the systems under reflection increasingly

knowledge-intensive.

This sociological theory of communication is founded in a tradition that includes Giddens' (1979) structuration theory,

Habermas' (1981) theory of communicative action, and Luhmann's (1984) proposal to consider social systems as self-organizing.

The study also elaborates on Shannon's (1948) mathematical theory of communication for the formalization and

operationalization of the non-linear dynamics.

The development of scientific communications can be studied using citation analysis. The exchange media at the interfaces of

knowledge production provide us with the evolutionary model of a Triple Helix of university-industry-government relations.

The construction of the European Information Society can then be analyzed in terms of interacting networks of communication.

The issues of sustainable development and the expectation of social change are discussed in relation to the possibility of a

general theory of communication.

Author Biography: Loet Leydesdorff (Ph.D. sociology, M.A. philosophy, and M.Sc. biochemistry) is Senior Lecturer at the Department

of Communication Studies of the University of Amsterdam. He has published in the philosophy of science, social network

analysis, scientometrics, and the sociology of innovation. His studies of communication in science, technology, and

innovation enabled him to specify theory and methods for understanding the dynamics of knowledge-based development.

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Networks of communication evolve in terms of reflexive exchanges. The codification of these reflections in

language, that is, at the social level, can be considered as the operating system of society. Under sociologically

specifiable conditions, the discursive reconstructions can be expected to make the systems under reflection increasingly

knowledge-intensive.

This sociological theory of communication is founded in a tradition that includes Giddens' (1979) structuration theory,

Habermas' (1981) theory of communicative action, and Luhmann's (1984) proposal to consider social systems as self-organizing.

The study also elaborates on Shannon's (1948) mathematical theory of communication for the formalization and

operationalization of the non-linear dynamics.

The development of scientific communications can be studied using citation analysis. The exchange media at the interfaces of

knowledge production provide us with the evolutionary model of a Triple Helix of university-industry-government relations.

The construction of the European Information Society can then be analyzed in terms of interacting networks of communication.

The issues of sustainable development and the expectation of social change are discussed in relation to the possibility of a

general theory of communication.

Author Biography: Loet Leydesdorff (Ph.D. sociology, M.A. philosophy, and M.Sc. biochemistry) is Senior Lecturer at the Department

of Communication Studies of the University of Amsterdam. He has published in the philosophy of science, social network

analysis, scientometrics, and the sociology of innovation. His studies of communication in science, technology, and

innovation enabled him to specify theory and methods for understanding the dynamics of knowledge-based development.

Product Details

ISBN: 1581126956
ISBN-13: 9781581126952
Format: Paperback, 359pp
Publisher: Upublish.com
Pub. Date: January 2001
Sales Rank: 390,148

Table of Contents

1.	Introduction	1
1.1	'Self-organization'	2
1.2	Self-organization remains a hypothesis	11
1.3	A hypothesis refers to a theory	13
1.4	The 'self-organization' paradigm in sociology	17
1.5	An example: 'interpenetration'	21
1.6	The re-entry of time into the representation	26
1.7	The progam of studies	30
Part 1	Sociological Reflections
2.	Towards a sociological theory of communication	35
2.1	Uncertainty, information, and meaning	38
2.2	Giddens' structuration theory	44
2.3	Self-organization theory	49
2.4	Luhmann's restriction	54
2.5	The social system and biological autopoisesis	55
2.6	Habermas' objection	58
2.7	Language	62
2.8	Infrareflexivity	67
2.9	Communication of 'information' in messages	71
2.10	What is evolving?	74
3	The evolution of communication networks	79
3.1	The perspective of social systems theory	80
3.1.1	The methodological basis
3.1.2	Human communication
3.1.3	The status of the observables
3.2	Communication and communication systems	90
3.2.1	Variation and selection
3.2.2	Stabilization, self-organization, and globalization
3.2.3	Complexity among systems
3.3	The evolutionary perspective	105
3.3.1	Complexity in the time dimension
3.3.2	Inter-system dependencies
3.4	Conclusions	113
3.5	Excursion on the possibility of artificial evolution	114
4.	The non-linear dynamics of sociological reflections	117
4.1	The evolutionary need for reflections	118
4.2	The duality of social communication	120
4.3	The regime of modernity	123
4.4	The endogenous character of technological change	126
4.5	Differentiation among reflexive discourses	128
4.6	The 'duality' in sociological understanding	130
4.7	Implications for sociological theorizing	134
4.8	Conclusions	136
Part 2	Is Society a Self-Organizing System?	139
5.	New perspectives on empirical theories	143
5.1	Four models of 'structure'/'action' contingencies	142
5.1.1	The aggregation hypothesis
5.1.2	The hypothesis of 'unintended consequences'
5.1.3	Symbolic interactionism and the situational approach
5.1.4	Systems theory in sociology
5.2	The model of parallel and distributed processing	155
5.2.1	The operational independence of the social system
5.2.2	The networks network, and the actors act
5.2.3	The role of the network
5.2.4	Interpenetration operationalized
5.3	The local and the global network	165
5.3.1	Hierarchy and heterarchy in the network
5.3.2	Heuristic functions of the model
5.3.3	Algorithms of parallel and distributed processing
5.3.4	'Meaning' at the level of the network
5.4	Summary and conclusions	175
6.	A Triple Helix of university-industry-government relations
6.1	Functional versus institutional differentiation	178
6.2	The 'scientific-technical revolution' (1870-1890)	180
6.3	Complexity within scientific communication	182
6.3.1	Annotations, references, and citations
6.3.2	The modern 'citation' as a complex index
6.3.3	The latency of the cognitive dimension
6.4	Complexity at the level of society	191
6.4.1	Horizontal and vertical couplings
6.4.2	Translation systems
6.5	Emergence and drifts of trans-epistemes	202
6.5.1	The techno-sciences
6.5.2	Economic consequences
6.5.3	Policy implications
6.6	Conclusions	209
7.	The European information society	213
7.1	The EU-Network Systems	215
7.2	Methods and data	217
7.2.1	Data
7.2.2	Methods
7.2.2.1	Longitudinal studies
7.2.2.2	Functional versus national differentiation
7.3	Results	224
7.3.1	The European monetary system
7.3.2	The European publication system
7.3.3	The case of 'biotechnology'
7.4	Conclusions	233
8.	Regime changes and sustainable development	235
8.1	The paradigm shift	236
8.1.1	Ex post and ex ante
8.1.2	Second-order dynamics
8.2	Prediction in second-order systems theory	245
8.3	Consequences	248
8.3.1	The carrying capacity of second-order systems
8.3.2	Sustainability of technological solutions
8.3.3	Trajectories and regimes
8.3.4	Sub-optima, hill-climbing, and changes of regime
8.4	Conclusions	258
Part 3	Philosophical Reflections	261
9.	Uncertainty and the communication of 'time'	263
9.1	The construction of the modern cosmology	266
9.1.1	'Uncertainty' in the new philosophy
9.1.2	'Time' in the new philosophy
9.2	'The time of the Lord is the best of all times'	272
9.3	The deconstruction of the modern cosmology	275
9.3.1	'Uncertainty' as the 'substance' of communication
9.3.2	The probabilistic interpretation of communication
9.4	The self-organization of uncertainty	281
9.4.1	Interaction among communication systems
9.4.2	Extension in the time dimension
9.5	The study of complex dynamics	289
9.6	Towards a general theory of communication?	292
10.	The expectation of social change	297
10.1	The post-institutional perspective	299
10.1.1	'All that is solid melts into air'
10.1.2	The linguistic turn
10.1.3	Retention
10.2	Exclusion and the new social movements	314
10.3	Knowledge-based development	318
	Bibliography	323
	Author Index	343
	Subject Index	347

A Sociological Theory of Communication: The Self-Organization of the Knowledge-Based Society by Loet Leydesdorff

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