  Both 'actions' and 'interactions' can be considered as micro-operations that
can be aggregated from a systemic perspective. Whereas actions operate
historically, interactions provide the events retrospectively with meaning.
Luhmann's sociology of communication systems adds to the approach of symbolic
interactionism the question of what global dimensions of communication mean for
local interactions. When communication is functionally differentiated--for
example, in terms of media--tensions can be expected to develop between local
organizations and global developments of communication structures. Interfaces
enable us to translate selectively among (provisionally) stabilized
representations, for example, in professional practices. 'Big science' and
'high tech' can be considered as organizational acculturations of an emerging
level of sophistication in global communications. The global dimension remains
a hypothesis, but entertaining this hypothesis of 'globalization' restructures
the local expectations.
