Growing social complexity obliges humans to develop better ways of reducing it

Evidence

Thomas Hobbes’ endeavour to establish the necessity of absolute political domination has its roots in this problem, although by interpreting the problem of complexity through the narrow perspective of law and order he arrives at a solution in terms of absolute rule which makes him blind to any alternative. … It can be perceived in his concept of the ‘double contingency’ of all interactions, which makes necessary the formation of norms to ensure the complementarity of role expectations. … All these ideas can be compressed into a single formula: in conditions of increasing social complexity humankind can and must develop more effective ways of reducing complexity. — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 104

Categorization

• DEFINE: Establishes the ‘double contingency’ concept and places Hobbes’s absolutism as one (inadequate) complexity-reduction response — relevant to Lord Darlington’s institutional deference.
• XREF: Parsons’s double contingency parallels Giddens’s facework and anticipates Stevens’s over-reliance on institutional roles.