Violence from the perspective of social immunology
A contribution to social systems theory
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 20485652 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Domenico Tosini (0000-0002-2298-8158, University of Trento Department Sociology and Social Research Via Verdi 26 Trento Italy, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2023 |
| Volume | 27 |
| Issue | 1-2 |
| Pages | 233-260 |
| Publication date | 2023-05-04 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Soziale Systeme (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0948-423X • E-ISSN: 2366-0473 |
| Publisher | Walter de Gruyter GmbH (PUBLISHER • DE) |
| DOI | 10.1515/sosys-2022-0010 |
| OpenAlex | W4376461560 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
| References cited | 38 |
This paper analyzes violence from the peculiar perspective of a “social immunology”, defined as the area of social systems theory concerned primarily, even though not exclusively, with those processes by which social systems as communication systems deal with tensions, termed ecological tensions, that involve the intersection between social systems and their human environment and that endanger the maintenance of social autopoiesis. Individuals’ violent behaviors are manifestations of such tensions. However empirically ubiquitous it may be, violence constitutes a crucial problem for social systems, due to risks detrimental to the human substrate of communicative processes. We theorize about conflicts, social movements and the legal system as the main components of an immune apparatus of social systems by focusing on individuals’ reactions to social costs and related social conflicts. Modern law, in particular, tends to promote individuals’ inclusion and to restrain their resorting to violence by relying on a system of rights, procedures, and judicial institutions conducive to attracting and regulating such conflicts. Legal immunization remains nonetheless exposed to several limitations, including abnormal forms that concur to the arbitrary use of violence
Autopoiesis · Environmental ethics · Epistemology · Law and economics · Political science · Social science · Social system · Sociology · Foucault, Power, and Ethics · Global Security and Public Health · Psychology · Psychology of Moral and Emotional Judgment · Social Psychology
Law As A Social System
The Dual State
The Remnants of the Rechtsstaat
Social immunology
On the inventory of sociological violence research
Republic of Fear
Phenomena of Power
The Logic of Violence in Civil War
The autonomy of law in the war on terror
Developments in US Anti-terrorism Law
A monstrous failure of justice’? Guantanamo Bay and national security challenges to fundamental human rights
Terrorism, Signaling, and Suicide Attack
The suicide bomber as a medium of terrorist communication
Al-Qaeda’s Strategic Gamble
The welfare courts
The Intellectual Origins of American Strict Products Liability
Niklas Luhmann. Education as a social system
Violence
Agents and Mechanisms of Terrorist Campaigns
The Modern Expansion of Tort Liability
Between Facts and Norms
Niklas Luhmann and the sociology of the constitution
Social Immune Mechanisms
Framing Processes and Social Movements
Law as an Intellectual Stepchild
| Unique citing works | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 1 |