ABSTRACT
In the field of social theory, it has also been recognized that social ontology is in many ways prior to social theory because the former attempts to clarify the conceptual presuppositions that the latter must employ to even embark on a coherent discourse. The basis of this social ontology is Luhmann's general understanding of 'systems' as 'fully temporalized systems that use events as elements'. It follows logically that 'a social system exists as elements that are events'. In the United States (US), the Social Ontology Working Group was established at UC Berkeley in 2005; the outstanding sociologist Daniel Little has also written extensively on social ontology. A social system comes into being whenever an autopoietic connection of communications occurs and distinguishes itself against an environment by restricting the appropriate communications. The social system is understood by Luhmann as a complex network of communications.
