World Society/Network Society

by

Anja Weiß, Boris Holzer

• LAST MODIFIED: 17 April 2025
• DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756384-0272

Introduction

When the term “globalization” gained prominence in social scientific discourse in the 1990s, its vagueness was widely deplored. Critics regarded globalization as a fad whose provenance from management discourse invalidated any conceptual aspirations. To others, the end of the Cold War and the emergence of instant worldwide communication gave credence to narratives of a bright future in which a connected world would grow together. By today, the initial fuzziness of the globalization concept has been replaced by separate but connected debates that focus on cross-border connectivity or on the societal forms that supplement or even replace container notions of the nation-state. While concepts of transnationalization and denationalization highlight border-crossing connections and mobilities against the backdrop of nationally bounded societies, theories of global society seek to revise the concept of “society” to reflect an encompassing social reality that extends beyond any particular nation-state or region. Building on precursors from the fields of philosophy and political economy, a first step in this direction was taken by sociologists who began to rethink the concept of society to reflect the increasing global interdependence of the twentieth century. In the context of various sociological paradigms, the “social system” concept offered a way to describe networks of communication and exchange. While Immanuel Wallerstein conceived the “world-system” in terms of specific, particularly economic relationships in addition to and beyond national societies, Niklas Luhmann conceptualized society as a whole in terms of a differentiated social system consisting of a multitude of global subsystems such as the economy, science, religion, and the international state system. More recently, the globalization of society through communication has also been highlighted by theories of a global “network society” that examine the consequences of new information technologies as well as the mobilities of people and objects. Based on telecommunication, sociality has become increasingly deterritorialized and has fostered social relationships that are both long-distance and simultaneous. In addition to networks of communication, mobility underpins the social fabric of global society. Flows of people and objects connect distant locations, and cultural flows establish transnational “scapes.” For people who move from one place to another, be it temporarily or permanently, it has become much easier to maintain relationships across distance. Among migrants, for instance, personal networks result in transnational social spaces emerging above and beyond the global versus nation-state distinction. Studies of transnationalization emphasize the continued importance of the local and the changes ensuing from local actors becoming part of global networks. These insights are the basis for more encompassing efforts to theorize world society as a social entity. The macrosociology of world society has evolved into two directions: first, different concepts—such as communication, culture, or global risks—are employed to elaborate the conceptual foundations of world society theory; second, specific forms of globalization in societal domains such as politics, religion, and the arts are examined, often with reference to the differentiation of society at a global scale. Current debates highlight and critically reflect on the embeddedness of world society studies in Eurocentric classics.

Precursors to a Sociological Concept of World Society

Although the concept of “world society” has only been adopted by social theories in the course of the globalization debate, the idea of social connectedness beyond local communities and the nation-state has a long tradition. Harris 1927 discusses the early philosophical roots of the idea of “cosmopolitanism” in ancient Greece. Kant 1795 continued the normative line of reasoning pioneered by Greek philosophy and introduced the concept of cosmopolitan law. The actual consequences of global mobility began to be observed in the late nineteenth century, and the concept of “Weltverkehr” as employed by Wirth 1906 synthesizes the dimensions of physical movement, social exchange, and technological civilization. From a sociological perspective, Moore 1966 argues that the “world” could be regarded as a “singular system,” while Luhmann 1971, Burton 1972, Wallerstein 1974, and Heintz 1982 make similar claims based on particular notions of what constitutes society.

• Burton, John W. 1972. World society. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

  DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511521669

  Burton conceives world society as a complex system that cannot be adequately understood by traditional methods of analysis. It requires a new approach that accounts for the interdependence, diversity, and dynamism of human interactions. To that purpose, Burton proposes the “cobweb model,” i.e., a relational perspective on a “world of transactions.” He concludes that world society is characterized by a high degree of conflict that stems from incompatible needs, interests, and values among different actors.

• Harris, Hugh. 1927. The Greek origins of the idea of cosmopolitanism. International Journal of Ethics 38.1: 1–10.

  DOI: 10.1086/207643

  Harris traces the origin of the idea of cosmopolitanism, i.e., the view that man’s loyalty belongs to the world as a whole rather than to a particular state or nation, to ancient Greece. He argues that the idea of cosmopolitanism emerged from the contrast between the Greek and Persian civilizations, as well as from the influence of philosophy and science on Greek culture. Harris portrays and examines cosmopolitan thinkers in ancient Greece, such as Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, and Diogenes, and concludes that cosmopolitanism retains its potential to inspire modern thinking.

• Heintz, Peter. 1982. Die Weltgesellschaft im Spiegel von Ereignissen. Diessenhofen, Switzerland: Rüegger.

  Heintz examines the concept of world society as a global system that transcends national and cultural boundaries. The book’s title reflects the thesis that world society is not accessible to the individual by way of face-to-face interaction but only through events reported by the mass media. That leads to a skewed understanding and description of world society that emphasizes and dramatizes ephemeral events instead of structures. Heintz recommends a sociological research program that analyzes but also addresses these shortcomings of descriptions of world society in the mass media.

• Kant, Immanuel. 1795. Zum ewigen Frieden: Ein philosophischer Entwurf. Königsberg: Friedrich Nicolovius.

  In this classic essay, Kant proposes that peace depends on the principles of republican government, international law, and universal hospitality. The latter in particular foreshadows the idea of global civil society that grants every person the right to visit any foreign country, as long as they do not harm its inhabitants. It is an influential, early attempt to extend the notion of society based on moral obligations and legal norms. [English translation 1991. Perpetual peace: A philosophical sketch. In Political writings. 2d ed. Edited by Hans S. Reiss, 93–130. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.]

• Luhmann, Niklas. 1971. Die Weltgesellschaft. Archiv für Rechts- und Sozialphilosophie 57.1: 1–35.

  Luhmann conceives society as the most encompassing social system. Today, there is only one world society because communication transcends territorial boundaries and political borders. World society is characterized by its differentiation into various functional subsystems (such as economy, politics, or religion), whose boundaries may diverge but do not necessarily coincide with the nation-state. Luhmann argues that subsystems relying on a “cognitive” style of orientation, i.e., those geared towards adaption and learning (such as science), may assume primacy over the “normatively” oriented subsystems such as politics and the law. [Reprinted 1975. In Soziologische Aufklärung, Band 2, 51–71. Opladen, Germany: Westdeutscher Verlag.]

• Moore, Wilbert E. 1966. Global sociology: The world as a singular system. American Journal of Sociology 71.5: 475–482.

  DOI: 10.1086/224165

  Moore reconstructs the development of sociology from its early focus on the unity of mankind and the diversity of civilizations to its contemporary interest in the global system. He defines the contemporary global system as a set of interrelated subsystems (such as culture, economy, politics, etc.) that operate across national boundaries and affect all human societies. Moore suggests that sociology adopt a global perspective that analyzes both the commonalities and differences among societies, as well as the interactions and conflicts within and between subsystems.

• Wallerstein, Immanuel. 1974. The modern world system. Vol. 1. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press.

  In the first part of his multi-volume opus, Wallerstein reinterprets the emergence and development of the modern world. The modern “world-system” is a historical system that has its origins in the sixteenth century, when Europe expanded its influence over other regions through colonialism, trade, and warfare. The system has undergone several cycles of expansion and contraction but has maintained its basic structure as a capitalist world-economy characterized by a division of labor among core, peripheral, and semi-peripheral regions. The core dominates and exploits the periphery through unequal exchange, while the semi-periphery stands in between regarding wage levels and production systems.

• Wirth, Albrecht. 1906. Der Weltverkehr. Frankfurt: Literarische Anstalt Rütten & Loening.

  Wirth explores the phenomenon of “world traffic,” i.e., the movement of people, goods, and ideas across the globe, and its economic, social, and cultural implications. He focuses on the role of transportation technologies such as railways and steamships, new technologies of communication such as telegraphy, and the role of political events and structures such as great wars and colonial rule. According to Wirth, the transformative effects of world traffic can be observed in nearly all aspects of human life, including trade, industry, agriculture, finance, education, religion, art, and literature. He concludes that world traffic not only changes how goods, people, and ideas move but has become the foundation of a new type of universal civilization.