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Biography of Niklas LuhmannName: Niklas LuhmannBirth Date: December 8, 1927 Death Date: N/A Place of Birth: Lüneburg, Germany Nationality: German Gender: Male Occupations: sociologist Niklas Luhmann A prominent German sociologist, Niklas Luhmann (born 1927) developed a general sociological systems theory, which he applied to a wide range of problems.Niklas Luhmann was born on December 8, 1927, in Lüneburg, Germany. He studied law at the University of Freiburg/Breisgau in the years 1946-1949 and pursued further legal studies in preparation for the German state exam in 1953. He entered the civil service in 1954 and from 1956 to 1962 worked in the ministry of culture of the state of Lower Saxony, overseeing educational reform. He spent 1960-1961 on leave at Harvard University, studying sociology and administrative science. The teaching of the famous Harvard sociologist Talcott Parsons would prove to be an especially important influence on Luhmann's later work.After returning to Germany, Luhmann decided to turn to social science and an academic career. He held research and teaching positions at institutions in Speyer and Dortmund from 1962 until 1968. Having started to publish at a …showed first 150 words…
…showed last 150 words…Luhmann married Ursula von Walter in 1960; she died in 1977. They had two sons and one daughter. He has been a Professor of Sociololgy, University of Bielefeld since 1968. Further Reading Some of Luhmann's key works are now available in English translation: Trust and Power (1979), the essay on trust is a good entry point into Luhmann's work; The Differentiation of Society (1982), an excellent collection of essays with a good introduction; Religious Dogmatics and the Evolution of Societies (1984), contains Luhmann's main ideas on religion and a good introduction; A Sociological Theory of Law (1985), an extended treatment of one field in Luhmannian terms; Love as Passion (1986), an intriguing and readable historical and sociological study of love; Ecological Communication (1989), an application of systems theory to environmental problems; Political Theory in the Welfare State (1990), and Essays on Self-Reference(1990). Other translated works included Soziologie des Risikos. English Risk: A Sociological Theory(1993) and Soziale System, English Social Systems (1995). |