Agafonow's article locates the role of social enterprises in devolving value through output maximizing behavior. This short paper embeds Agafonow's argument in the societal and institutional context by building upon Luhmann's social systems theory. According to Luhmann, the functional system of...

The paper reconstructs the Veblenian critique of the pecuniary economy from the perspective of Niklas Luhmann's theory of autopoietic social systems. Luhmann argued that social systems relieve people from the overwhelming civilizational complexity, but develop autopoietic properties hindering...

Despite popular misconceptions, cooperatives present a very successful organizational form worldwide. A recent study found that in the U.S., for example, 134 agricultural cooperatives celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2014. This observation on cooperative longevity is not matched by a...