Conclusion

Luhmann and his critics

Amy E. Varela

pp. 203-225

in: Michael King, Chris Thornhill, Niklas Luhmann's theory of politics and law, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 2003

Abstract

Nobody would deny that Niklas Luhmann remains a controversial figure in contemporary sociology. In his native Germany especially, his uncompromising position as a highly critical observer of radical and idealistic social movements earned him a reputation as a reactionary social theorist and as a major exponent of conservative political ideas. At the same time his observations of the legal and political systems, and in particular his refusal to accept at face value widely accepted accounts of justice, equality, democracy, stability, dominance, exploitation and so on, have led to accusations of anti-liberalism. In some quarters his accusers have been so incensed by the stance which he supposedly took against their radical, humanist or social reformist positions, and their visions of progress and claims for achievement, that their reactions to him have fallen only a little short of demonization. Indeed, in a talk he gave in London not long before his death, Luhmann, not without some relish, even described himself as "the devil". During the course of this book we have considered some of the more extreme accusations directed against him and we have concluded that many of his accusers have acquired only a partial understanding of his ideas generally, and particularly of his conception of modern society, and of his notion of the role of sociological theory.