Mascareño, A. 2012. Auto-caotización en la sociedad mundial. Lineamientos para una teoría de la diferenciación contextual. Cinta moebio 44: 61-105

PDF | HTML

Self-chaotization in World Society. An Outline for a Theory of Contextual Differentiation

Dr. Aldo Mascareño (aldo.mascareno@uai.cl) Escuela de Gobierno, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez (Santiago, Chile)


Abstract

A high level of complexity and a continuous and always changing relationship among its elements characterizes modern world society. As a result, a constant differentiation and specialization of diverging social fields aiming to reduce the uncertainty emerging from that complexity takes place. Paradoxically, as differentiation and specialization increase, they become a new source of uncertainty. In order to confront this self-producing ambiguity, some social operations develop structural interdependencies with a sufficient level of operational stability that distinguish them from their environment. In this paper this is called contextual differentiation, i.e. the emergence of differentiated contexts of interaction, decision and symbolization that make possible a mutilayered concretization of social functions in supranational contexts. With regard to the differentiation of law, economy and sports this process is analyzed and illustrated in four case studies: the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Bank for International Settlements, FIFA, the game and its publics, and the international commercial arbitration.

Key words: World society, functional differentiation, social systems, social theory, systems theory

Home | Indice | Números Completos | Instrucción para Autores
Cinta de Moebio
Revista de Epistemología de Ciencias Sociales
ISSN 0717-554X