Metateoria feminizmu. Niklas Luhmann, Christine Weinbach i współczesna teoria systemów społecznych wobec problemu płci

Abstract

The article presents basic propositions regarding the problem of gender as developed by Niklas Luhmann. These are: an assessment of the women’s movement from the point of view of George Spencer-Brown’s logical paradox; the woman/man relationship from the perspective of the hierarchising category of difference; systemic functionalisation that weakens the traditional division of gender roles. On the one hand, Luhmann’s thesis on the progressive functional differentiation of social systems seems convincing and represents a significant contribution to our understanding of human culture. On the other hand, his reflections may provoke a critical response due to his reluctant attitude to the women’s movement and his inability to explain the persistence of gender inequality within individual systems. The article analyses Luhmann’s critique of the women’s movement and the errors that prevented him from explaining the stability of a hierarchy preferring men in organisations: overemphasising the macrostructure of the system, omitting the specificity of the organisation; a simplistic approach to the human individual. Regarding these issues, the reception and modification of Luhmann’s position (as it relates to gender) proposed by Chri-stine Weinbach, a contemporary researcher in social systems theory, is important.