Supporting Activities and Lifestyle

Abstract

The home, recreation, or the work place are spheres where persons who practice criminality outdoors are found now and then. The private home may be within the autopoietic system if crimes are planned there, and family members contribute indirectly or directly, for example by providing support to the one involved in criminal activities. Parts of official initiatives may also come within the autopoietic system. For example: A person spends time in a youth club or lives in one of the child protective service’s adolescent institutions and uses them to as a cover to conceal illegal activities. An underground structure arises, unknown to the employees, where youth plan and practice anti-social behavior without this becoming visible to the employees (Andreassen 2003). Here we can say that the institution has partly become incorporated in the autopoietic system. Then what Luhmann designates as the boundary of the system will pass straight through the youth club or adolescent institution. What maintains the boundary is the information barrier. Where the boundary passes, there will be gray zones, i.e., the boundary may be thick or thin. But obviously the system and the boundary are both abstract quantities. This is about topics that are not communicated to the responsible adults in the institution, about secrecy and hidden agendas.