Social Immunology: A Theory of the Immune Processes of Social Systems

This article adds to the literature on system research by providing a comprehensive analysis of the immune processes for the social system of society, focusing on conflicts and law as the main components. Social systems are conceptualized as self-reproducing units based on communication, with individuals constituting separate entities, namely the human environment of society. Processes of social immunization concern individuals’ perception of the social costs of expectations and their consequent reactions, which can give rise to ecological tensions between social systems and the human environment. Individuals’ reactions to social costs are problems that social systems should deal with communicatively to guarantee their own reproduction. Conflicts contribute to immune processes by channeling the perception of social costs into specific communicative forms, such as social movements. Whereas legal procedures are the main settings in which social systems are immunized from the costly continuation of disputes, which would interfere in the social autopoiesis.