本研究嘗試以台灣「外籍新娘」為例，探討功能分化社會的涵括／排除過程及形式。在功能分化的社會中，涵括過程不再是以身分為基礎的固定準則，而是具有民主與自由的特徵。這個鬆綁過程促使個人參與社會的涵括過程趨向個體化及部分化。涵括的個體化是基於「每個人原則上具有進入所有功能系統的平等機會與管道」之主張，而且個人參與社會的可能性與限制最後必須直接歸因於個人身上。形成涵括部分化的現象則在於功能分化社會中，部分及多元化的涵括取代以身分為區分標準的總體涵括。在社會面向上，總體涵括的瓦解讓涵括不再屈服於規範性準則；在事物面向上則造成涵括多元化的結果；就時間面向來看，涵括的結果具有暫時化的特徵。以此為基礎，Rudolf Stichweh認為傳統陌生人的概念──一個緊實的社會客體 (compact social object)──已不適用於現代社會的涵括／排除現象。在涵括個體化及部分化的前提下，研究者將採取批評 Stichweh的立場上繼續追問：系統理論如何看待結構性不平等的社會現象？在新住民女性的例子中，亦即如何解釋一個被污名化「範疇」的形成？這促使對涵括／排除這個概念組及陌生人的概念做更仔細的檢視。最後，研究者將以 Niklas Luhmann所提出的「個人這個形式」(Die Form Person)的觀點，來討論外籍新娘所承載的穩定的、幾乎全面的（負面）角色結構。研究者將指出，在外籍新娘的例子中，進入不同功能系統的涵括／排除過程較不是在個人層面的生命史上進行歸因，相反地，歸因的可期待性及連續性主要是附著在「外籍新娘」這個被標籤化的期待角色的結構之上。

The foreign brides in Taiwan are an undeniable “social fact.” One must be blind to overlook them. In the same measure, thinking of them as non-Taiwanese elements is a naive and unrealistic projection. In fact, they contribute to the formation of Taiwanese society in the full sense. Although the presence of foreign brides is evident, they are often treated and experience themselves as strangers. Georg Simmel defined the stranger as “the one that comes today and stays for tomorrow (wer, der heute kommt und morgen bleibt)” (1908: 509). The strangeness of the foreign brides does not, of course, come from their immanent attributions, but from the relationship, from the everyday contacts with the people in Taiwan. In this article, I will examine the inclusion/exclusion-process of foreign brides from Luhmann’s systems theory, but in a critical way. Based on Luhmann, Rudolf Stichweh (2002) points that the inclusion/exclusion- process in the functional differentiated society does not obey a status-based schemata any longer. We witness instead a process of individualization and multiplication of inclusion/exclusion. Consequently, this leads to the invalidity of the classical concept of the ‘stranger’, which according to Stichweh, signifies a compact social object. But in the case of foreign brides in Taiwan, we will see contrary findings. Foreign brides in Taiwan are to a certain extent still marked as a compact social object because their chance of inclusion in most areas is correlated with their status as foreign brides, including political participation, educational chance and economic accomplishment.