ABSTRACT
Only humans have developed a language that they can use for the coordination of cooperation processes. In sociology, there are two roughly divided views on the binding effect of language, as paradigmatically represented by Jurgen Habermas and Niklas Luhmann. For Habermas there is an inherent telos of understanding in language. According to him, the rationalized and intellectualized modernity must live with the weak binding force of language. Niklas Luhmann however, has stressed that language in particular unleashes potential dissent. In communication media, the world-creating dimension of language is coupled with binding effects in the form of specific behavioral willingness. In terms of the developed theoretical language expressed here, this means that the code is based on the implicit mastery of constitutive rules, while the message is the individual act or move. The crucial difference between language and the other media is that the other media are internally linked to a much greater extent with sanctions than language.
