The Division of labor of criticism in social systems theory

Bibliographic Data

ID6166189
AuthorsRoberto Dutra (0000-0001-7854-1139, State University of Norte Fluminense, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume13
Publication date2025-11-06
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueRevista Brasileira de Sociologia - RBS (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2317-8507 • E-ISSN: 2318-0544
PublisherSociedade Brasileira de Sociologia (PUBLISHER • BR)
DOI10.20336/rbs.1175
OpenAlexW4416012523
LanguageEN
References cited16

This article attempts to show how social systems theory can contribute to the critique of society. To this end, it uses the distinction between systemic sociology of critique and critical sociology of systems and proposes a program of division of labor between them. The central thesis is that the tasks of offering an original sociological critique of society and observing the realization of diverse social critiques in different systems and contexts can be complementary. The contribution of systems theory is to enable original sociological criticism without claiming moral superiority. To realise this contribution, sociology needs to specialize its critical work and stop repeating judgments formulated by other perspectives. To outline this cooperation, we take as an example the case of criticism at experts in different functional systems

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