Communication between Social and Media Systems

Abstract: The communication process is currently invading and pervading the public sphere, the transmission of cultural models, the political participation and the relation between countries. Why are we registering this enormous development of communication technology? Which is the logic at the base of this social process? Through the works and thoughts of Niklas Luhmann, we define the nature of the communication process, the medium as system, the individual as a Psychic System, and their relation. We use the conceptual frame of cybernetics (observation of second order, cognitive construction), cognitive evolution biology (autopoiesis, double contingency, evolution,) and information theory concepts (information, code and encode, noise) in order to analyze the role and function of Media System. Finally, we show how the reduction of complexity operated by the Media System permits the communication between the Social Systems through Media System and his influence on society. Based on the last media research debates, this paper proposes a new lexicon (expectation, communicative event, social systemic meanings, self-observing) for understanding media.