Social systems theory has been the target of critiques that identify a supposedly neoliberal political content in its premises: setting out from a stereotyped view of the concept of autopoiesis, according to which the functionally differentiated economy cannot be determined by politics, they infer a preference for the free market. The objective of this article is to compare the views of Hayek and Luhmann, taking as a guiding thread their different ideas concerning the welfare state. While the neoliberal critique automatically converts into a moral defence of the free market, systems theory allows (via structural couplings) a more fine-tuned discussion of the relations between politics and economics and a coherent diagnosis of the welfare state.
Welfare state; Hayek; Neoliberalism; Luhmann; Systems theory