Abstract

MORENO RUBIO, Mónica Eugenia. Social Systems Theory and History: An Interdisciplinary Approach for Scientific Research. Relac. Estud. hist. soc. [online]. 2019, vol.40, n.159, pp.171-192.  Epub Sep 30, 2020. ISSN 2448-7554.  https://doi.org/10.24901/rehs.v40i159.425.

Social systems theory (TSS) had been applied in sociology for only a few years when it received several critiques. In the 1980s, the Spanish sociologist Francisco Parra Luna responded to the most important questionings, including one which argued that systems theory is ahistorical. The purpose of this article is to update the reply to that critique by providing four key elements that, in our view, resolve the issue: a processual model, axiological systems theory, dialectics, and social mechanisms. Based on these four proposals, we sustain that systems theory and history are compatible in many cases, and actually need one another in others. The methodology consisted in reviewing theoretical documents in order to identify those elements where systems theory and history converge.

Keywords : systems theory; history; processual model; axiological systems; dialectics.

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