Organizaciones y Problemas Sociales. Una aproximación sistémica

Abstract

This work explores, theoretically, relations between organizations and social problems (public problems or society’s problems). A constant observation in sociological studies of the subject has been the distortion betweenorganizationalendsandactions.Thatis,intheiractivitiesandoperations,organizationsputtothe side the end (resolution of problems) for which they had been created under criteria of self-reproduction. Given the general nature of these results, we are interested in reflecting, theoretically, on the assumptions underlying of observing organizations (their conditions of possibility). To that end, we present three case studies of organizations dedicated to dealing with social problems. On the basis of these studies, we go on to analyze modes of observation tied to the evaluation of the organization-social problem relation. Finally, basedonsocialsystemstheory(Luhmann),weproposeadifferentwayofanalyzingandconceptualizingthe relation mentioned.