What is it about?
Drawing on Luhmann, modern society is seen as a web of communications under competing demands. What is often called “bullshit” can be read more neutrally as performative decoupling, speech that keeps things moving by sounding plausible now while postponing firm commitments. As a contingency formula, it helps hold interaction together until concrete procedures or metrics catch up; sometimes that bridge leads to action, sometimes it stalls. Often, its role is systemic, not a moral flaw.
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Why is it important?
In highly differentiated systems such as politics, science, or technology, actors must coordinate and communicate before procedures, metrics, or agreements are fully established. Plausible but non-committal speech can reduce friction, maintain legitimacy, and keep interaction moving until more concrete structures emerge. Understanding this dynamic shifts the focus from moral judgment to structural necessity and allows us to distinguish between communication that productively bridges uncertainty and communication that merely postpones responsibility.
Perspectives
This publication argues that the demand for authenticity and sincerity often misrecognizes how modern society actually operates, and that moralizing “bullshit” tends to obscure its structural function. Rather than condemning it, the paper analyzes it as a systemic mechanism, offering a way to critique society without reverting to moral judgment. In doing so, it also outlines strategies for recognizing and disengaging from such communicative dynamics.
Murat Sariyar
Berner Fachhochschule
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Bullshit as performative decoupling of values and commitments in Luhmannian systems theory, Kybernetes, January 2026, Emerald,
DOI: 10.1108/k-08-2025-1925.
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