Luhmann’s systems are not naturalistic people-networks but self-referential communicative processes

Evidence

Space-binding media were light and portable and permitted extension in space; time-binding media were heavy and durable or, like the oral tradition, persistent and difficult to destroy. In prepositional form, then, structures of consciousness parallel structures of communication. — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 624 (#expands, via linked claim)

At any rate, here is one of the cases where the individual, within his own consciousness, repeats the relationships which exist between him, as a total personality, and the group. It is an old observation that the conceptions of the single individual, with all their relations of association and dissociation, differentiation, and unification, behave in the same way in which individuals behave in regard to one another. It is merely a peculiar case of this correspondence that those intrapsychological relations are repeated, not only between individuals in general, but also between the individual and his group. All that society asks of its members—adaptation and loyalty, altruism and work, self-discipline and truthfulness—the individual also asks of himself. — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 354 (#complicates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Social mechanisms intensify only when applied reflexively to themselves; Social structures are objectivated meanings built through inter-subjective exchange; Language is socially constructed and speaks through individuals (+15 more)

Related

• Social systems reproduce through self-referential communication, not individual will (similarity 0.83)
• Relation forms a self-sustaining generative system rather than a static being (similarity 0.82)
• Social mechanisms intensify only when applied reflexively to themselves (similarity 0.81)
• Structures of consciousness parallel structures of communication (similarity 0.80)
• Talk itself generates communities and power independent of fixed interests (similarity 0.79)
• Chronic interest in communication signals a derangement of its models (similarity 0.79)
• Social systems form only through communication as interdependent selection processes. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• Structures of consciousness parallel structures of communication #expands (0.55) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 624
• Social structures are objectivated meanings built through inter-subjective exchange #contradicts (0.50)
• The individual’s inner mental relations mirror social relations among persons #complicates (0.50) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 354
• Language is socially constructed and speaks through individuals #contradicts (0.40)
• Other minds as alter egos intensify complexity, requiring language to reduce it #qualifies (0.40)