Luhmann übernimmt den Begriff der Interpenetration von Parsons. Interpenetration bezeichnet die spezifische strukturelle Kopplung von sozialem und psychischem System.
P. Fuchs schreibt im Jahr 2000: Interpenetration (heute: konditionierte Koproduktion) (17 Aug 2000 Pertubation/strukturelle Kopplung in der Liste)
Beispiel:
Fragen:
I would distinguish between structural, operational, and loose couplings. Structural coupling between two systems implies that the operation in the one system is necessarily coupled to the operation in the other. For example, like the rows (agents) and columns (communications) in a matrix
representation. The two systems are then considered as directly interfaced.
Operational coupling means that a system in-between the two systems has to operate to bring the coupling about. For example, we need the internet email system to operate for communicating between us. There are two interfaces involved: one between you and the internet, and one between me and the internet.
Loose coupling means that three interfaces are involved. For example, if this communication provides you with a headache than my operation is loosely coupled to this headache.(L. Leydesdrff, Luh-Liste. 1.6.08)