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Release | Organisation and Function: Reclaiming the Third Mandate in the Age of Grand Challenges
Abstract: Calls for organizations to address grand societal challenges increasingly emphasise performance-oriented adaptation and organisational repurposing through new initiatives, metrics, and governance mechanisms. Yet this focus often neglects the more fundamental macro-structural role organisations play in society. Drawing on Niklas Luhmann’s social systems theory, this paper reclaims the long-neglected “third mandate” of organization theory by…
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Release | The Digital Transformation of Social Research: On the Emulation of Theory within Theory and the Emergence of Repository-Based Academic Writing
Abstract: The digital transformation of social research has significantly expanded the empirical and methodological capacities of the social sciences. Yet, social theory itself remains largely shaped by analogue modes of thinking and writing. This paper aims to explore what a digital transformation of social theory would entail, with particular attention to the implications for theory…
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Preprint | From Spaceship to Lifeboat: Artemis II and the Radicalisation of a Planetary Perspective
Abstract: This article examines the semantic shift from Spaceship Earth to Lifeboat Earth in contemporary planetary discourse. Taking recent rhetoric surrounding the Artemis II mission as its point of departure, it argues that the description of Earth as a “lifeboat” marks a significant radicalisation of an older metaphorical field. Whereas the Apollo era helped naturalise the image of Earth…
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Event | When Programmes Disagree About Programmes: Code Poetry and the Problem of Programme–Programme Communication
What happens when programmes interpret programmes? As decision-making becomes increasingly mediated by computational procedures, interactions between programmes themselves come into view as a potential site of communication. This workshop explores the challenge of programme–programme communication through the case of code poetry—an artefact that simultaneously invites formal execution and semantic interpretation. Drawing on a moderated dialogue…
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Protected: CFP | Luhmann Conference 2027
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Event | Wolfson Tool Factory
On 23 April 2026, we will convene for the first-ever Wolfson Tool Factory meeting—an experimental workshop dedicated to the co-production of theory-based management and consulting tools. This event is supported by the Wolfson College Research Networks. The idea is simple but ambitious: To bring together social (systems) theorists and consultants working with for-profit, non-profit, and…
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Release | Ideological Repurposing of Institutions of Higher Management Education: Historical Lessons and Contemporary Imperatives
Abstract: This article examines the ideological repurposing of institutions of higher management education (IHMEs) from a systems-theoretical perspective. Drawing on Niklas Luhmann’s theory of social systems, we analyse both historical and contemporary cases to identify structural similarities in how institutions of higher education (IHEs) have been reoriented to serve external political imperatives. Through a functional…
