At present more attention is being directed to solving the same problem of the difference between society at large and political force by means of a sort of localized politics specific to small systems. Under normatively intended postulates, like democracy, participation or co-determination, all types of organizational systems in all societal functional contexts, be they schools, mines, prisons or parish churches, are being confronted with claims from all and sundry for participation in the exercise of power. Thus the difference in level between societal systems and individual organizations as well as the differentiation between the functional domains of society become undermined ideologically. We are back to the lifeworld universality of the phenomenon of power. Obviously it is impossible to undo the differentiation of the political system or even just to carry on small-scale politics everywhere in the same way as large-scale politics.

QUESTION: Luhmann seems skeptical of participation and co-determination ideals — worth probing whether this is a defense of systems autonomy or a critique of democratic romanticism.

Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, loc. 777