The essay, first of all, tries to give a very brief historical and explanatory answer to the question: When begins the history of world society? World systems theory (Wallerstein) and systems theory (Luhmann) converge in locating the beginnings of world society in differentiation processes germane to 15th/16th-century Europe. The theory of world society is the theory of the societal system emerging from this conjuncture. The essay, furthermore, adds two argumentative steps. Firstly, it sketches three structural innovations which are of especial relevance for the genesis of world society: 1. Functional differentiation; 2. Organizations (especially: multinational enterprises and non-governmental organizations); 3. Communication technologies. Secondly, this argument on structural innovations is supplemented by three mechanisms or processual mechanisms to which the dynamics of world society is supposed to be due: 1. Global diffusion of institutional patterns; 2. Global interrelatedness; 3. Decentralization in function systems. What is easily to be seen in developing this explanatory apparatus is that there are no convincing arguments for looking at world society as a system characterized by homogenized patterns of social structure and culture.
Keywords:
Social Systems Theory, World society, Functional differentiation, Structural Innovations, Organizations
Stichweh, R. (2012). On the Genesis of World Society: Innovations and Mechanisms. MAD, (26), 1–16. Retrieved from https://revfono.uchile.cl/index.php/RMAD/article/view/18892
