How Luhmann’s systems theory can inform gambling studies

Abstract

Gambling and problem gambling studies tend to be characterised by individual-based approaches both theoretically and methodologically, while sociological approaches remain underutilised or even marginal. In this study, we discuss the potential of Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory in the analysis of gambling. As opposed to positivist or individualistic approaches, Luhmann’s work is strongly constructivist: neither systems nor their components are seen to be made up of individuals. Using systems theory in informing gambling research distances the research interests from individuals and directs it towards societal mechanisms, structures, and processes. Therefore, a systems theoretical approach can offer novel tools to study gambling, but also the paradigm of gambling research itself. This paper demonstrates how systems theory can critically inform gambling research through five operationalisations: gambling as a system, the gambling experience, the regulation of gambling economies, gambling providers as organisations, and systems theory as a methodological program. These five operationalisations can serve as an important window to widen perspectives on gambling.

Types of gambling: finnish gambling narratives under the lens of systems theory

“…Narrations are usually built-up of various and alternating contextures, i.e., polycontextural structures, which resonate inside each other. “Such networks are dependent on the observer who replaces any linear causality assumed in actor-based analytical frameworks.” (Egerer et al, 2020 , p. 18). Contextures are not contexts.…”

“…The analysis is based on a practical and pragmatic implementation of the systems theoretical toolbox (Vogd, 2011 ) rather than systems theory as a grand societal theory. A full discussion of systems theory would thus go beyond the scope of this article and the following elaboration will emphasise the presentation of the main concepts informing this study as well as the methodological aspects (see Egerer et al, 2020 for a more detailed description of systems theory in relation to the study of gambling in various dimensions).…”

“…Matching this line of research concerning the gambling activity itself, and in order to focus on developing a typology of gambling (rather than of gamblers), the present study harness a theoretical approach where gambling can be analytically insulated from human individuals: the system theoretical approach. The system theoretical approach is particularly suitable for tilting the lens away from the human individual, the gambler, and towards gambling itself (Egerer et al, 2020 ). In systems theory social systems are autopoietic, i.e., self-sustained and involve communication (Luhmann, 1984 ).…”

Reconceptualising risky and harmful consumption through molar and molecular lines: Mobile smartphone sports betting arrangements

“…However, behaviours such as gambling are complex, multi-faceted and influenced by a combination of macro-, meso- and individual-level factors (Egerer et al, 2020). Therefore, as Lamberton and Hill (2016) identify, there is a need to focus on the interplay between individual drivers of risky consumer behaviour and risky contexts to understand issues like gambling-related harm better.…”

Gambling Ain’t What It Used To Be: The Instrumentalization of Gambling and Late Modern Culture

“…The discussion also contributes to the extension of social-theoretical perspectives into the field of gambling studies. It has been noted by gambling scholars that social theory has been underutilized in the field (Cosgrave, 2006(Cosgrave, , 2020bEgerer et al, 2020). Some recent work has sought to address this issue, with contributions engaging with, among other theorists: Slavoj Zizek (Bjerg, 2011), Michel Foucault (Nicoll, 2019), Erving Goffman (Cosgrave, 2020a), Niklas Luhmann (Egerer et al, 2020) and Emile Durkheim (Cosgrave, 2021).…”