Jan Overwijk discusses critical systems theory, sociologies of closure and openness, and cybernetic capitalism.

Shownotes

Jan Overwijk at the Frankfurt University Institute for Social Research:

https://www.ifs.uni-frankfurt.de/personendetails/jan-overwijk.html

Jan at the University of Humanistic Studies Utrecht:

https://www.uvh.nl/university-of-humanistic-studies/contact/search-employees?person=jimxneoBsHowOfbPivN

Overwijk, J. (2025). Cybernetic Capitalism. A Critical Theory of the Incommunicable. Fordham University Press.

https://www.fordhampress.com/9781531508937/cybernetic-capitalism/

on the website of the distributor outside of North America you can order the book with a 30% discount with the code “FFF24”:

https://www.combinedacademic.co.uk/9781531508937/cybernetic-capitalism/

on Niklas Luhmann:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Niklas_Luhmann

Baraldi, C., Corsi, G., & Esposito, E. (2021). Unlocking Luhmann. A Keyword Introduction to Systems Theory. transcript.

https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-5674-9/unlocking-luhmann/

Fischer-Lescano, A. (2011). Critical Systems Theory. Philosophy & Social Criticism, 38(1), 3–23.

https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0191453711421600

Möller, K., & Siri, J. (2023). Niklas Luhmann and Critical Systems Theory. In: R. Rogowski (Ed.), The Anthem Companion to Niklas Luhmann (pp. 141–154).

https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/abs/anthem-companion-to-niklas-luhmann/niklas-luhmann-and-critical-systems-theory/982BC5427E171D2BA0D14364377A40F5

on Critical Theory:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_theory

on Cybernetics:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cybernetics

Future Histories explanation video on cybernetics (in German):

https://youtu.be/QBKC9mM8-so?si=64v0OgBKV3xjXvLl

on Humberto Matuarana:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humberto_Maturana

on Francisco Varela:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_Varela

Maturana, H. R., & Varela, F. J. (1992). Tree of Knowledge: The Biological Roots of Human Understanding. Shambhala.

https://uranos.ch/research/references/Maturana1988/maturana-h-1987-tree-of-knowledge-bkmrk.pdf

on Ferdinand de Saussure:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_de_Saussure

on Post-Structuralism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-structuralism

on the differentiation of society into subsystems:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Differentiation_(sociology)

on Jaques Derrida:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jacques_Derrida

Bob Jessop on Luhmann and the concept of “ecological dominance”:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318543419_The_relevance_of_Luhmann%27s_systems_theory_and_of_Laclau_and_Mouffe%27s_discourse_analysis_to_the_elaboration_of_Marx%27s_state_theory

Jessop, B. (2010). From Hegemony to Crisis? The Continuing Ecological Dominance of Neoliberalism. In: K. Birch & V. Mykhnenko (Eds.). Rise and Fall of Neoliberalism: The Collapse of an Economic Order? (pp. 171–187). Zed Books.

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/318524063_The_continuing_ecological_dominance_of_neoliberalism_in_the_crisis

on Surplus Value in Marx and Marxism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surplus_value

on Louis Althusser:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_Althusser

Althusser, L. (2014). On the Reproduction of Capitalism: Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses. Verso.

https://legalform.blog/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/althusser-on-the-reproduction-of-capitalism.pdf

on Stuart Hall:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stuart_Hall_(cultural_theorist)

on Capital Strikes:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_strike

on the concept of “rationalization” in sociology:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalization_(sociology)

on Max Weber:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Weber

Weber, M. (2005). The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism. Routledge.

https://gpde.direito.ufmg.br/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/MAX-WEBER.pdf

Zuboff, S. (2019). The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power. Profile Books.

https://profilebooks.com/work/the-age-of-surveillance-capitalism/

on Surveillance Capitalism:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surveillance_capitalism

on Herbert Marcuse:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbert_Marcuse

Marcuse, H. (2002). One-Dimensional Man. Studies in the Ideology of Advanced Industrial Society. Routledge.

https://files.libcom.org/files/Marcuse,%20H%20-%20One-Dimensional%20Man,%202nd%20edn.%20(Routledge,%202002).pdf

on Jürgen Habermas:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J%C3%BCrgen_Habermas

on Jean-François Lyotard:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jean-Fran%C3%A7ois_Lyotard

Lyotard, J.-F. (1988). The Differend. Phrases in Dispute. University of Minnesota Press.

https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816616114/differend/

on Thermodynamics:</p