ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the criticism of the economic theory of corruption for excluding social aspects in assessing the incentives, values and meaning of economic actors, and subscribes to his suggestion that an analysis of social, cultural and historical elements of corruption is needed that transcends mere economic explanation. It associates with Talcott Parsons theory of structural functionalism, and in particular with Niklas Luhmann's currently popular social system theory; the latter is often referred to as methodological individualism, initially introduced by the Austrian School of National Economy. Societal function systems are conceived as self-referential systems of communication that follow their own autopoietic logics. Social system theory raises these two characteristics of modernity functional differentiation and operational self-sufficiency of communication systems to socio-ontological fundamentals of the structure of modern society. Conceptualizing corruption in a neutral manner takes a constructivist approach that assumes that corruption is social problem solving.
