ABSTRACT
From a systems-theoretical perspective, society is decomposed into many different social systems in particular function systems. As we saw in Chapter 1, human beings, with their bodies and thoughts, feelings, and memories, are not parts of society. However, there are “parts” of human beings that do belong to social systems. In contrast to their bodies and their psychic systems, these “parts” are products of social systems because they are addressed by social systems. In figurative language, we can say that social systems “baptise”, “call”, or “label” these parts of the human being. 2 This is a somewhat simplified image but for now we can stick with it because it will be helpful for what comes next.
