Release | What is in Organisation? Contents of a Self-Contained Container

Abstract: The purpose of this article is to resolve the apparent opposition between the container metaphor of organisation and the idea that organisations are constituted by communication. Drawing on works by Niklas Luhmann, George Spencer Brown, and Louis Kaufman, I develop a dynamic, communicative concept of containment, or “continence”. Using this concept, I demonstrate how […]

Event | Niklas Luhmann Reading Group at the University of Cambridge

Niklas Luhmann Reading Group: Session 4 Date: 14th of March 2025. Time: 14:00-17:00 GMTVenue: University of Cambridge, Faculty of Education, 184 Hills Rd, Cambridge CB2 8PQ, United Kingdom Please check talks.cam for details and updates. This session’s topic: Action Society is often imagined as a collective of acting and interacting individuals. Social order, in this […]

Release | Special Issue | Scientific communication. Observed with social systems theory

Special Luhmann Conference 2022 Issue of Systemic Practice and Action Research (Vol. 37 No. 3) on Scientific communication. Observed with social systems theory Edited by Steffen Roth, Kresimir Zazar, Lars Clausen, and Tilia Stingl de Vasconcelos Guedes Introduction Steffen Roth, Kresimir Zazar, Tilia Stingl de Vasconcelos Guedes, and Lars Clausen: Scientific communication observed with social […]

CFP | Luhmann Conference 2022 | Scientific communication. Observed with social system theory

Call for papers to the Luhmann Conference 2022 on “Scientific communication. Observed with social system theory” Venue: Inter-University Centre (IUC), Dubrovnik, Croatia Address: Don Frana Bulicá 4, 20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia Dates: 13-16 September 2022 Theme Science is a dynamic social system. New scientific topics and fields emerge from the system’s continuous observations of society, its environment, and science […]

Release | COVID-19. Scenarios of a superfluous crisis

Abstract: This study aims to highlight the critical role case fatality rates (CFR) have played in the emergence and the management of particularly the early phases of the current coronavirus crisis. The study presents a contrastive map of CFR for the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and influenza (H1N1 and H2N2). The mapped data shows that current CFR of SARS-CoV-2 are considerably […]

Release | Digital transformation of social theory. A research update

Roth S. (2019) Digital transformation of social theory. A research update, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Vol. 146 No. September, pp. 88-93 [SSCI 5.846, Scopus, CNRS***, FNEGE***, ABS***, VHB***]. This article has been assessed by the Lithuanian Research Council as Top 10 article co-/authored by Lithuanian-based researchers in the field of social sciences in the […]

Release | The open theory and its enemy

Roth S. (2019), The open theory and its enemy: Implicit moralisation as epistemological obstacle for general systems theory, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Vol. 36 No. 3, 281-288 [SSCI 1.052, Scopus, CABS**]. Online first version of the article available for download here. Abstract: Ludwig von Bertalanffy decisively shaped open systems theory as challenge and alternative to […]

CFP | Kybernetes | Shifting spheres

Shifting Spheres Call for Papers to a special issue of Kybernetes [Clarivate Impact Factor: 1.381] Guest Editors: Markus Heidingsfelder, Xiamen University, Malaysia* Holger Briel, Xi’an Jiaotong Liverpool University, PR of China Steffen Roth, La Rochelle Business School, France, and Yerevan State University, Armenia *Corresponding guest editor. Email: markus.heidingsfelder@xmu.edu.my Focus: The concept of publicity as a […]

Call | Political communication: Observed with Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory

Political communication: Observed with Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory Time: 29-31 May 2019 Place: International University Centre (IUC), Dubrovnik, Croatia Conference organizers: Klaus Brønd Laursen and Gorm Harste, Aarhus University, Denmark; Gina Atzeni, LMU Munich, Germany; Steffen Roth, La Rochelle Business School, France, and Yerevan State University, Armenia; Markus Heidingsfelder, Habib University Karachi, Pakistan. Final programme available for […]

Prof Steffen Roth

Communication