The Family in the Social Complexity : From A View of Social Systems Theory

Taking the elaboration of social systems theory into account, this paper aims to explore the ways in which the family today can be theorized in social theory. As a result of the functional differentiation of the process of modernization, the family, as a distinctive functional system, has been given quite particular meanings. In relation to other self-referential social systems and the structural couplings and communications through them, it may also be necessary for the theory to involve a wider range of family organizational patterns while remaining a space wherein intimacy is maintained. The functional approach to the family of Niklas Luhman's social systems theory will account for a radical model of the family. If the family today must be investigated with consideration to its wider dynamic relationships (or communications) with other social components beyond regional or spatial limits in the age of globalization, his theoretical elaboration can be further investigated in that it redefines social systems theory by drawing attention to the alternative traits of modernizations in our society.departmental bulletin pape