Abstract
In this article we argue that functional differentiation, the prevalent form of social organisation in world society, was not a European imposition on America, since it had yet to take place at the moment when the two regional societies came into contact. Functional differentiation emerged from the relationship between Europe and America. Moreover, multilayered networks also became formed, co-evolving with functional differentiation in America and giving a particular character to American differentiation. Setting out from Niklas Luhmann’s concept of functional differentiation and a historical-evolutionary analysis of the process of differentiation in America, we identify particular moments of this development and its main features. We conclude that Latin American sociology requires the adoption of an evolutionary approach to society to decentralize its vision from the present, escape the methodological nationalism that characterizes it, and transform itself into the sociology of world society.
Keywords
Functional differentiation; Latin America; networks; stratification; centre/periphery; systems theory; Niklas Luhmann