Norbert Elias: (SAGE Masters in Modern Social Thought Series)

About the Book

Norbert Elias (1897-1990) is now widely regarded as one of the greatest sociologists of the 20th century. Some have suggested that in time, he will be regarded as the Copernicus or Darwin of sociology, the man who set the subject on its scientific course. These four volumes provide a comprehensive and penetrating survey of Elias's life and work. They pinpoint the main fields of research which Elias and his followers have explored. The volumes successfully locate the work of Elias and his followers in the context of modern sociology, especially in relation to writers such as Mannheim, Adorno, Parsons, Goffman, Foucault and Bourdieu. In the penetrating, introduction, Dunning and Mennell elucidate Elias's sociological contributions and the bearing his life-experiences had on his work. The collection is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the sociological contribution of Norbert Elias. The collection is organized in four volumes: Volume 1 focuses on Elias's work in the context of his life and career, and reviews his place in the contemporary social sciences, especially in relation to such figures as Michel Foucault and Pierre Bourdieu. Volume 2 addresses Elias's major empirically-based contributions to sociological theory, especially the theories of the civilizing process, state formation and established-outsider figurations. Volume 3 examines figurational contributions to such special areas of sociology as the sociology of the body, the sociology of the emotions, the sociology of everyday life, sport, leisure, lifestyles, taste, music and the arts; deviance and crime; the sociology of health and illness; psychiatry, psychoanalysis, and psychology; death and dying; drugs and tobacco use. Volume 4 focuses on criticisms of Elias's work and the responses of Elias and his sociological followers. Key themes are civilization and the Holocaust; sports violence, especially soccer hooliganism; the meanings and value of concepts like 'development', 'evolution' and 'change'; and the relative merits of long-term and short-term approaches. The end of the volume returns to the issue of Elias's place in contemporary sociology and the growing worldwide recognition of the significance of his contribution.

Table of Contents:
PART ONE: SITUATING ELIAS Encounter with Norbert Elias - Eric R Wolf Die Harte Arbeit des Kerativen Prozesses - Michael Schroter Erfahrugen mit Norbert Elias The `Young Workers Project′ Renewed - John Goodwin and Henrietta O′Connor Elias and the Frankfurt School - Artur Bogner Comments on Elias′s Scenes from the Life of a Knight - Eric Dunning Zum Hintergrund der Zivilisationstheorie von Norbert Elias - Johan Goudsblom Ihr Verhaltnis zu Huizinga, Weber und Freud Norbert Elias and American Sociology - Johan Goudsblom Norbert Elias and Karl Mannheim - Richard Kilminster The Organization of the Soul - Robert van Krieken Elias and Foucault on Discipline and the Self Embarrassment and Civilization - Helmut Kuzmics On Some Similarities and Differences in the Work of Goffman and Elias Parson and Elias - Stephen Mennell PART TWO: GENERAL THEORETICAL-EMPIRICAL ORIENTATIONS The Structure of Social Processes - Artur Bogner A Commentary on the Sociology of Norbert Elias In Defence of Developmental Sociology - Eric Dunning A Critique of Popper′s Poverty of Historicism with Special Reference to the Theory of Auguste Comte Social Figuation and Habitus - Roger Chariter Reading Elias PART THREE: THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE AND THE SCIENCES On the Relationship between Literature and Sociology in the Work of Norbert Elias - Helmut Kuzmics Norbert Elias′s Sociology of Knowledge and Its Significance for the Study of the Sciences - Nico Wilterdink The Worm and the Clock - Johan Goudsblom On the Genesis of a Global Time Regime PART FOUR: LONG-TERM PROCESSES CIVILIZING, DECIVILIZING AND DYSCIVILIZING PROCESSES Violence in the British Civilizing Process - Eric Dunning, Patrick Murphy and Ivan Waddington Einige Soziale Wandlungen des Schlafers - Peter R Gleichmann Review of Johan Goudsblom Fire and Civilisation - Eric Dunning Decivilizing Processes - Godfried van Benthem van den Bergh Civilization and Organized Violence in the Ottoman Empire - Elcin Kursat-Ahlers Decivilizing Processes - Stephen Mennell Theoretical Significances and Some Lines for Research Asia and Europe - Stephen Mennell Comparing Civilizing Processes The American Civilizing Process - Stephen Mennell Dyscivilization, Mass Extermination and the State - Abram de Swaan Compassion and Cruelty in Modern Society - Nathan Sznaider Civilisering en Decivilisering - Ton Zwaan Studies over Staatsvorming en Geweld STATE-FORMATION PROCESSES Is a Marxist Theory of the State Possible? - Gotfried van Benthem van den Bergh The Mafia of a Sicilian Village, 1860-1960 - Anton Blok European Intergration and Norbert Elias′s Sociology - Paul Kapteyn The Second Pillar of State Power - Reinhard Blomert Figurational Explorations of the State and Money Elias in Japan - Johann Arnason State Power, Military Elites and Organized Violence INFORMATION PROCESSES On Modern Relationships - Christien Brinkgreve The Commandments of the New Freedom Feelings, Behaviour and Morals in The Netherlands, 1938-78 - Christien Brinkgreve Analysis and Interpretation of an Advice Column Informationization and the Civilizing Process - Cas Wouter Social Stratification and Informalization in Global Prespective - Cas Wouter PART FIVE: ESTABLISHED-OUTSIDER FIGURATIONS/ COMMUNITIES CLASS, ETHNICITY AND `RACE′ Power and Authority in the Public Schools - Eric Dunning A Case Study and Conceptual Discussion Die Etablierten Deutschen und ihre Auslandischen Ausenseiter - Hermann Korte The Formation of We-Images - Stephen Mennell A Process Theory The Figurational Dynamics of Racial Stratification - Eric Dunning A Conceptual Discussion and Developmental Analysis of Black-White Relations in the United States GENDER The Changing Balance of Power between Men and Women - Annette Treibel A Figurational Study of the Public and Private Spheres in Western Societies Marriage - Michael Schroter Power Changes and Self-Respect - A van Stolk and Cas Wouter A Comparison of Two Cases of Established - Outsider Relations The Politics of Agoraphobia - Abram de Swaan PART SIX: CONTRIBUTIONS TO `SPECIAL′ SOCIOLOGIES SOCIOLOGY OF THE BODY AND EMOTIONS On Civilizing of Appetite - Stephen Mennell Towards a Sociological Theory of Sport and the Emotions - Joseph Maguire A Process-Sociological Perspective Balancing Sex and Love since the 1960s Sexual Revolution - Cas Wouter The Quest for New Rituals in Dying and Mourning - Cas Wouter Changes in the We-I Balance LEISURE, SPORT AND THE ARTS Towards a Sociological Understanding of Football Hooliganism as a World Phenomenon - Eric Dunning On Fox-Hunting and Angling - Adrian Franklin Norbert Elias and the `Sportization′ Process Aspects of Boxing in the Western `Civilizing Process′ - Ken Sheard The Pleasure of the Rich Is the Labour of the Poor - Keith Tester Some Comments on Norbert Elias′s An Essay on Sport and Violence Sociological Reflections on Sport, Violence and Civilization - Eric Dunning Globalization and Sportization - Joseph Maguire A Figurational/Process-Sociological Perspective Cricket and Civilizing Processes - Dominic Malcolm Painting, Power and Patronage - Bram Kempers A Sociological Approach to Art History SOCIOLOGY OF RELIGION Religious Regimes and State Formation - Mart Bax Towards a Research Perspective Beschaving en Godsdienst - Johan Goudsblom Over de Plaats van de religie in Norbert Elias′s Civilisation Theory PROFESSIONS AND ORGANIZATIONS Sociogenese de la Profession Politique - Eric Phelippeau Applying an Eliasian Approach to Organizational Analysis - Sue Dopson Epilogue - Wilbert van Vree Changing Meeting Behaviour as an Aspect of Civilizing Processes CRIME AND PUNISHMENT Norbert Elias and the Civilized Prison - John Pratt Violence and the Civilizing Process - Pieter Spierenburg Does it Work? Changing Patterns of Social Controls and Self-Controls - Cas Wouter On the Rise of Crime since the 1950s and the Sociogenesis of a `Third Nature′ MEDICNE AND PSYCHOANALYSIS Public Health and the Civilizing Process - Johan Goudsblom Modern Medicine and the Civilizing Process - Patrice Pinell The Sociogenesis of the Psychoanalytic Setting - Abram de Swaan DRUGS, ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO USE Review of Jan-Willem Gerritsen `The Control of Fuddle and Flash: A Sociological History of the Regulation of Alcohol and Opiates′ - Johan Goudsblom La Consommation de tabac dans le Processus de Civilisation - Jason Hughes Drugs in Sport - Eric Dunning and Ivan Waddington Some Neglected Issues PART SEVEN: CRITIQUES AND COUNTER-CRITIQUES Review of the 1939 edition of Uber den Prozess der Zivilisation - Raymond Aron Review of the 1973 French edition of The Civilising Process - Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie Review of The Established and the Outsider - W G Runciman Civilizing Processes - Myth or Reality? - Johan Goudsblom and Stephen Mennell The Civilizing Process Revisited - Daniel Gordon Emmanuel Le Roy Laudrie, Daniel Gordon and The Second Death of Norbert Elias - Roger Chartier Social Reality as Figuration - Derek Layder A Critique of Elias′s Conception of Sociological Analysis `Agency′ and `Structure′ in the Work of Norbert Elias - Eric Dunning Structuration Theory as a World View - Richard Kilminster On Figurational Sociology - Nicos Mouzelis Goldthorpe′s View of Sociology - Eric Dunning

About the Author :
Eric Dunning is Professor Emeritus of Sociology at the University of Leicester; Stephen Mennell is Professor of Sociology, University College Dublin