According to Niklas Luhmann’s diagnosis of modernity, modern society is characterized by manifold, highly ambivalent discrepancies between semantics and social structure. Such discrepancies are ambivalent because they can both assist and impede socie- tal development. Extending this Luhmannian argument, the article puts forward the research program of „ordonomics”. The ordonomic approach as developed here makes use of an institutional rational-choice analysis in order to systematically explore the interdependence between social structure and semantics. This approach is particularly powerful when applied to the discussion of normative categories. By this logic, the paper uses the ordonomic framework to critically reflect common notions of normative categories such as justice, solidarity, responsibility, sustainability, and corporate citizenship. Based on this analysis, the article spells out implications for the way teaching is carried out in the social sciences; it argues for a new framework of interdisciplinary cooperation and identifies potentials for mutual learning.