SOCIAL-SYSTEMS AND THEIR ECOLOGICAL SELF- DESCRIPTION

Growing concern with ecological problems has considerably affected the social sciences. But up to now however, sociological theory has not m ade much progress in constructing a new conceptual framework for the r elationship between society and nature which neither seeks support in the form of a new naturalism nor calls for normative guidance. The poi nts of departure of this paper are constructive systems theory (Luhman n) and culture theory (Douglas). Both have grasped societal relations toward nature in quite different ways. Systems theory emphasizes the f unctional technological simplifications of ecological uncertainties wh ich are typical of functionally coded rationalities. Culture theory re constructs the different ,,myths of nature'', which emerge in all inst itutionally distinct social settings. In both theories the attempt is made to distinguish the relevant ecological self-descriptions of moder n society and to explain why they are incompatible. With reference to the findings of eco-systems theory it is argued that it is precisely t hese built-in conflicts which create non-eqilibrium conditions of disc ourse and decision which give society a degree of flexibility and refl ectivity and which are needed for developing resources of self-control even if its relationship with its natural environment are essentially unknown.