Call for papers to the Luhmann Conference 2025

Topic: Programmes. Observed with social systems theory

Venue: University of Cambridge, United Kingdom

Submission deadline (abstracts): 15 May 2025
Conference dates:  09-12 September 2025
Pre-conference dinner: 08 September 2025

Supported by the Next Society Institute at Kazimieras Simonavicius University, European Sociological Association and the Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik.

To download this Call for Papers, please click here. Consider also subscribing to the Systems Theories JISCMAIL mailing list for updates at: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/systems

Theme

“… the differentiation of coding and programming makes the reappearance of the third value possible” (Luhmann, 1989, p. 41)

In observing programmes through the lens of social systems theory (Luhmann, 2018), we discover a centre pillar of decided orders and structural feature of organised complexity. Programmes guide decisions, establishing the conditions under which they are deemed good or bad, right or wrong, or lucrative or ruinous. Programmes constitute interfaces between organisations and the codes of the function systems (Sales et al., 2022; Roth, 2023), but may also refer to, or be understood as, forms of moral code (Laursen, 2022), including coded preferences for particular function systems. As preference resonates with precedence, programmes are also instrumental in creating rankings and other stratified orders. Moreover, programmes define what is on screen or “on line”, shaping what occupies the centre, and not only the periphery, of social attention. Programmes also operate a diverse set of guiding distinctions to decide who or what is included or excluded the multifaceted segments of modern world society. In this way, programmes are compatible with the source codes of all four basic forms of social differentiation (Roth, 2025): segmentary, centre-periphery, stratified, and functional. 

At the same time, the concept of programmes as architectures of code is compatible not only with the guiding distinctions of society as observed by social systems theory in the tradition of Niklas Luhmann (Roth et al., 2025), but also with the key technologies and self-descriptions of a digitally transforming society. While the notion of programmes predates the digital computer revolution, architectures and metaphors of programmes and code have become as ubiquitous today as have the computers processing them to mediate almost every aspect of organic, psychic, and social life. This pervasiveness now seems to extend even to the heartlands of analogue communication, which some argue are currently being taken over by technologies (Tække, 2022) that others view as hardly more than glorified search engines such as ChatGPT or Gemini. The possibility that this very text on programmes has been generated by a computer programme adds an intriguing layer of complexity or, at least, complication. Whether attributed to a software programme or a group of wetware computers, the existence of such opaque text in the age of AI underscores the pervasive interplay between programmes as forms of social systems and the social systems they shape.

Considering the multifaceted roles that programmes play across both analogue and digital landscapes, their theoretical and practical implications warrant deeper exploration. By examining the architecture of programmes through diverse lenses—ranging from their historical foundations to their contemporary transformations—contributions to the Luhmann Conference 2025 will uncover crucial insights into their influence on social systems, decision-making processes, and structural orders. The following topics and questions offer a non-exhaustive framework for navigating these intersections, aiming to illuminate the evolving significance of programmes within a digitally transforming society:

• The role of programmes within, or at the interfaces of, different function systems
• Theories as programmes and the digital transformability of analogue theories
• Forms and functions of programmes before – digital – computation
• Programmes from the periphery, that is, for example, from the global south or as expressed by sceptics of prevailing mainstream ideologies
• Programmes as addresses and addressees in communication
• Programmatic differences between an organised society and a society of organisations
• Codes and metacodes (such as inclusion versus exclusion)
• Interrelation among diverse programmes 
• Ideolog-isations of programs – imposing hierarchy of relevance
• Interventional programmes in, among others, politics, health, or education

As always, the Luhmann Conference welcomes contributions rooted in other paradigms, provided they address the conference theme and demonstrate how social systems theory might be enhanced, supplemented, or productively challenged from alternative perspectives.

References:

• Laursen, K. B., Harste, G., & Roth, S. (2022). Moral communication observed with social systems theory. An introduction. Kybernetes, 51(5), 1653-1665.
• Luhmann, N. (1989). Ecological Communication. University of Chicago Press.
• Luhmann, N. (2018). Organization and Decision. Cambridge University Press.
• Roth, S. (2023). Digital transformation of management and organization theories: A research programme. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 40(3), 451-459.
• Roth S. (2025), The matrix reloaded. A revised framework for the inference of the four basic forms of social differentiation, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, ahead-of-print.
• Roth S., Watson S., Möller S., Clausen L., Zazar K., Dahms H., Sales A., and Lien V. (2025), Guiding distinctions of social theory: results from two online brainstormings and one quantitative analysis of the ISA Books of the XX Century corpus, Current Sociology, ahead-of-print.
• Sales, A., Roth, S., Grothe-Hammer, M., & Azambuja, R. (2022). From play to pay: a multifunctional approach to the role of culture in post-merger integration. Management Decision, 60(7), 1922-1946.
• Tække, J. (2022). Algorithmic Differentiation of Society–a Luhmann perspective on the societal impact of digital media. Journal of Sociocybernetics, 18(1), 2-23.

Further reading:

• Aal, E. B. (2024). The world according to the project. Systems Research and Behavioral Science, ahead-of-print.
• Roth, S. (2019). Digital transformation of social theory. A research update. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 146, 88-93.
• Tække J. (2025). Sociological Perspectives on AI, Intelligence and Communication, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, ahead-of-print.
• Watson S. (2025). Emergent Discourses on Generative AI in Education and Society. Cambridge University Press.

Submission

Abstracts of 500–1000 words should be submitted via Submit your Abstract by 15 May 2025 at the latest. Full papers should be circulated prior to the conference.

Best paper award

The Next Society Institute at Kazimieras Simonavicius University in Vilnius is pleased to sponsor an award of EUR 500 for the best paper submitted to the Luhmann Conference 2025.

Important dates

Submission deadline for abstracts is 15 May 2025.
Letters of Acceptance will be distributed by email on 30 May 2025.
Full paper submission deadline: 15 August 2025.
The conference programme will be sent to registered participants on 25 August 2025.

The Luhmann Conference 2025 pre-conference dinner is planned for 08 September 2025.
Luhmann Conference 2025: 09-12 September 2025.

Programme Committee

• Lars Clausen, UCL University College, Denmark, and Kazimieras Simonavicius University, Lithuania*
• Vincent Lien, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Steffen Roth, Excelia Business School La Rochelle, France; Kazimieras Simonavicius University, Lithuania; and Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik, Croatia
• Tilia Stingl de Vasconcelos Guedes, Vienna University of Applied Sciences for Management and Communication, Austria, and Kazimieras Simonavicius University, Lithuania.
• Steve Watson,  University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
• Kresimir Zazar, University of Zagreb, Croatia, and Kazimieras Simonavicius University, Lithuania*

*Corresponding members: lacl@ucl.dk and kzazar@ffzg.unizg.hr

Publication opportunities

Selected papers submitted to the Luhmann Conference 2025 will be invited for submission to a special issue of Systems Research and Behavioral Science [SSCI 1.80, Scopus, CABS**].

Previous Luhmann Conferences have been or are currently being published in edited volumes or special issues of journals such as:  

• Roth S., Watson S., Dahms H., and Atanesyan A. (in progress), Guiding distinctions. Analogue guidelines or digital transformers, Current Sociology.
• Clausen L., Roth S., Neisig M., and Sales A. (in progress), Guiding distinctions of management and organisation theory, management revue. Socio-Economic Studies.
• Roth S. 2025), Guiding distinctions. Observed with social systems theory, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 42(2).
• Roth S. (2025), Environments. Observed with social systems theory, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 42(2).
• Roth S., Zazar K., Clausen L., and Stingl de Vasconcelos Guedes T. (2024), Scientific Communication. Observed with social systems theory, Systemic Practice and Action Research 37(3).
• Roth S., Laursen K., and Harste G. (2022), Moral communication. Observed with social systems theory, Kybernetes 51(5).
• Roth S., Heidingsfelder M., Clausen L., and Laursen K. (2021), George Spencer Brown’s “Design with the NOR”. With related essays, Bingley: Emerald.
• Febbrajo A. and Harste G. (2013). Law and Intersystemic Communication. Understanding “Structural Coupling”. London: Ashgate 2013

Historical background

In the 1980s, Hans-Ulrich Gumbrecht and Ludwig Pfeiffer co-organised a number of conferences at the Inter-University Centre of Post-Graduate Studies (IUC) in Dubrovnik in the former Yugoslavia, now Croatia. Starting in 1981, Luhmann attended several of these conferences. Conference proceedings were published in a series of five rather big volumes at the important Suhrkamp Verlag (Der Diskurs der Literatur- und Sprachhistorie, 1983; Epochenschwellen und Epochenstrukturen im Diskurs der Literatur- und Sprachhistorie, 1985; Stil, 1986; Materialität der Kommunikation, 1988; Paradoxien, Dissonanzen, Zusammenbrüche, 1991). Many of these works were dedicated to semantic history and to a system theory of art. 

The IUC was shelled during the siege of Dubrovnik in 1991, and for some years the conferences could not take place. Today, the IUC has been completely restored both physically and in spirit. 

The series resumed after the complete restoration of the IUC premises and, in turning increasingly international, became known under the sub-headlines “Observed with Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory” or “Observed with social systems theory”, respectively.

In 2025, for the first time in the history of the Luhmann Conference series, one of its editions will be held at a venue outside of Dubrovnik, namely the University of Cambridge, UK. The IUC Dubrovnik, however, remains an official supporter of the conference series.

Practical information 

The conference fee is EUR 300 for early career scholars (PhD students and post-Docs two years from their first PhD) and EUR 350 for everybody else. The amount is due in advance by bank transfer once your submission is accepted and registration confirmed. 

The conference fee includes catering during coffee breaks. All other meals are taken at restaurants and cafés in town. 

Luhmann community groups and supporters

• Anglophone Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/2834060864/  
• Germanophone Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/132998763464111
• Inter-University Centre Dubrovnik: https://twitter.com/IUCDubrovnik 
• JISCMail Systems Theories Mailing List: http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/systems 
• Luhmann Conference: https://twitter.com/Luh_Con 
• Next Society Institute: https://twitter.com/nexsocinstitute
• Scandinavian Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/147050955334098/