Luhmann’s general theory of society represents the road that sociology did not take back in the twentieth century. We would suggest that the road it did in fact take has not led to any fulfilment of its Enlightenmentinspired claims to ‘understand society’ and, through the generation of scientific knowledge, to make the world a better place. The vast majority of the predictions made through the acquisition of sociological knowledge have failed to materialize, and the social world in the year 2017 appears more unruly, out-of-control and precarious than has been the case for many generations.

XREF: Challenges the common assumption that sociology provides genuine predictive scientific knowledge of society.

Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, loc. 44