ABSTRACT
Translation’s function in society becomes clearly defi nable only when translation is viewed on the proper scale. Translation can and should be analyzed as a system. Yet being an intrinsically social phenomenon, translation should be studied in its social context. Although translation, broadly theorized, may be found not only in social systems, but in all kinds of autopoietically functioning systems and, one may argue, beyond them, our focus in the present study is not that far-reaching. If translation is considered as a social phenomenon, it should be viewed on the scale of the entire society, in its interactions with other subsystems within the overall social system and in terms of the role it plays in the interaction of the overall system with the environment. A failure to expand our study of translation to the scope of the entire society, would inevitably lead to short-sightedness and even downright distortions of our description of its operations.
