A COMPARISON OF MATURANAS AUTOPOIETIC SOCIAL-THEORY AND GIDDENS THEORY OF STRUCTURATION

The theory of autopoiesis developed by Maturana and Varela to explain living systems has been applied in various ways to social systems. How ever, whether such an application can be more than an analogy or metap hor is highly debatable. Maturana himself has generally not claimed th at social systems were themselves autopoietic, but were the medium wit hin which autopoietic systems could interact and become structurally c oupled. This paper contrasts autopoiesis, and Maturana's social theory , with Giddens' theory of structuration which, at first sight, appears quite similar. The conclusion is that whilst autopoiesis does not fit structuration theory, there are valuable complementarities with Matur ana's social theory.