ISSN : 2466-2542
Niklas Luhmann is a sociologist who has had a strong influence on other disciplines. Therefore, it is necessary to examine what Luhmann’s theory has influenced on his subsequent researchers. This study analyzed the knowledge network of studies on Niklas Luhmann’s theory by follow-up researchers. Bibliographic coupling and co-citation were used as the analysis method of knowledge network. The main results are as follows. First, the language clusters were divided into Latin American / Spanish-speaking regions, Western Europe / Anglo-American regions, Eastern / Northern Europe and other language regions through bibliographic coupling analysis. Second, from the node analysis of bibliographic coupling, It was divided into 2 main cases: where Luhmann’s major works were cited; where Luhmann’s minor works were cited. Third, it was found that there are the core work groups that are repeatedly cited among Luhmann’s works. Fourth, 12 core works were derived from the node analysis of the co-citation network, and appeared in four groups according to themes.