Popularised in the 1960s, “Spaceship Earth” has become a metaphor for the vision turned imperative that all inhabitants of planet Earth be harmoniously united in the mission to preserve their planet. In this talk, I shall draw on works by Niklas Luhmann, Michel Foucault, and Friedrich August von Hayek to argue that fashionable “missionary theories” […]
Read more "Workshop | Spaceship Earth. A total institution"Abstract: This study investigates how sharing ventures address the paradox of doing good versus doing harm in their strategic decision-making. The doing good versus doing harm paradox refers to the difficulty of sharing ventures to balance the aim to benefit society and the environment while minimizing potential adverse effects. Understanding and addressing this paradox is […]
Read more "Release | Deparadoxification and value focus in sharing ventures: concealing paradoxes in strategic decision-making"Call for papers to the Luhmann Conference 2023 on “Environments. Observed with social systems theory” Venue: Inter-University Centre (IUC), Dubrovnik, Croatia Address: Don Frana Bulicá 4, 20000 Dubrovnik, Croatia Dates: 12-15 September 2023 Pre-conference dinner: 11 September 2023 Theme Commonly associated with nature or ecology, the concept of environment is foundational to social systems theory. A “system is the […]
Read more "CFP | Luhmann Conference 2023 | Environments. Observed with social systems theory"Abstract: In Niklas Luhmann’s vision of the modern functionally differentiated society, health presents one of the essential function systems, along with politics, law, economy, or science. While he devoted much effort to elaborating the theoretical foundations of the latter function systems, his work on the health system was relatively sparse. This research gap has been […]
Read more "Release | Health beyond medicine. A planetary theory extension"Abstract: In mid-2020, the World Economic Forum (WEF) announced the Great Reset, an initiative launched to assert, describe, and shape the direction of an epochal transition brought about by the global coronavirus crisis. Rooted in a European tradition of social theory, this article aims to articulate the broader social context of this scenario and pinpoint […]
Read more "Release | The great reset of management and organization theory. A European perspective"Zusammenfassung: Die Coronakrise schafft Momentum für notstandsstaatliche Massnahmen und Gruppenmoral. Man begründet Sonderrechte und überträgt das aktuelle Krisenmanagement gedanklich auf den Kampf gegen den Klimawandel. Vor dem Hintergrund dieser «neuen Normalität» skizziert der vorliegende Beitrag ein Staatsverständnis, das sich mehr als Rahmenkonzept von Staatlichkeit denn als Gegenmodell zum totalitären Notstandsstaat versteht. Dabei zeigt sich, dass dieser […]
Read more "Veröffentlichung | Der Staat des multifunktionalen Liberalismus. Zu den Entscheidungsprämissen der nächsten politischen Ökologie"Abstract: In reviewing the Great Reset, an initiative launched by the World Economic Forum (WEF) in response to the global coronavirus crisis, this perspective article considers the scenario of an epochal transition from capitalism to “restorism”. To facilitate the observation of underlying trends and assumptions, a systems-theoretical framework is developed for the observation of both […]
Read more "Release | The Great Reset. Restratification for Lives, Livelihoods, and the Planet"Zusammenfassung: Die Umweltbewegung ist eine ausgesprochen problemzentrierte Bewegung, geht sie doch davon aus, dass unser kapitalistischer Lebensstil und unsere Abhängigkeit von ungebremstem Wachstum für die drohende Selbstauslöschung der Menschheit verantwortlich sind. Ziel dieses Artikels ist es, das Risiko aufzuzeigen und zu moderieren, dass die Umweltbewegung von den Problemen co-abhängig ist, die sie zu lösen versucht. […]
Read more "Release | Heal the world. Eine lösungsorientierte, systemisch-therapeutische Sicht auf Umweltprobleme"Abstract: Drawing on Luhmannian social systems theory, this article revisits the single- versus multiple-objective debate on the theory of the firm. Firms are conceptualized as complexity-reducing systems structurally coupled with potentially risky environments, and profit-maximization is considered as a complexity reduction strategy for making sense of these environments. Whereas single-objective approaches reflect cases when environmental […]
Read more "Release | Social goals in the theory of the firm: a systems theory view"
Dr. Steffen Roth 