Norbert Elias And Human Interdependencies

Norbert Elias (1897–1990), author of the modern classic The Civilizing Process, was one of the most fascinating scientists of the twentieth century. In Norbert Elias and Human Interdependencies leading scholars from Europe, the United States, and Canada introduce, evaluate, and apply Elias's achievements and explore the interdependence of individuals in an increasingly global society. While the opposing paradigms of globalization and fragmentation compete in often bloody and destructive ways in the world today, this book convincingly reminds us of the importance of finding out more about the complex and changing ways in which we are connected. The authors demonstrate that the more we understand our connectedness and deal with its consequences, the less dependent and helpless we become. The critical, multidisciplinary perspectives they offer cover a wide range of subjects, from the world wide web to medieval poetry, nations and gender, cancer narratives and money, emotion management and the financial markets, and the American civilizing process and the repression of shame. The contributions bear witness to Elias's innovative achievements while the authors continue his stunning explorations, extending them into other areas of the humanities and the sciences, and presenting their own wide-ranging and penetrating insights into our mutual dependence. Contributors are Jorge Arditi (SUNY-Buffalo), Godfried Van Benthem Van Den Bergh (emeritus, Erasmus University, Rotterdam), Reinhard Blomert (Humboldt University, Germany and Karl-Franzens University, Austria), Stephen Guy-Bray (University of Calgary), Thomas M. Kemple (University of British Columbia), Hermann Korte (emeritus, University of Hamburg, Germany), Helmut Kuzmics (University of Graz, Austria), Stephen Mennell (National University of Ireland), Thomas Salumets, Thomas J. Scheff (emeritus, University of California in Santa Barbara), Ulrich C. Teucher (University of British Columbia), Annette Treibel (Pedagogical University of Karlsruhe), and Cas Wouters (Utrecht University, Netherlands).

This book locates Elias's work clearly within the development of sociology and also against the background of current debates. Between the 1930s and the 1980s he developed a unique approach to social theory which is now beginning to take root in contemporary social research and theory. Since the translation of his work into English began to accelerate in the 1980s, a growing number of books and articles on topics including health, sexuality, crime, national and ethnic identity, femininity and globalization, in a variety of disciplines, make positive reference to Elias as an authority on the history of emotions, identity, violence, the body and state formation.

This book endeavours to bring the sociology of Elias to a new and wider audience through offering accessible explanations of some of his key ideas.

Norbert Elias has been recognized as one of the key social scientists of the 20th century at least in sociology, political science and history. This book will address Norbert Elias's approach to empirical research, the use of his work in empirical research, and compare him with other theorists.

This edited collection brings together texts that discuss current major issues in our troubled times through the lens of Norbert Elias’s sociology. It sheds light on both the contemporary world and some of Elias’s most controversial concepts. Through examination of the ‘current affairs’, political and social contemporary changes, the authors in this collection present new and challenging ways of understanding these social processes and figurations. Ultimately, the objective of the book is to embrace and utilise some of the more polemical aspects of Elias’s legacy, such as the exploration of decivilizing processes, decivilizing spurts, and dys-civilization. It investigates to what extent Elias’s sociological analyses are still applicable in our studies of the developments that mark our troubled times. It does so through both global and local lenses, theoretically and empirically, and above all, by connecting past, present, and possible futures of all human societies.

What is Sociology? presents in concise and provocative form the major ideas of a seminal thinker whose work--spanning more than four decades--is only now gaining the recognition here it has long had in Germany and France. Unlike other post-war sociologists, Norbert Elias has always held the concept of historical development among his central concerns; his dynamic theories of the evolution of modern man have remedied the historical and epistemological shortcomings of structualism and ethno-methodology. What is Sociology? refines the arguments that were first found in Elias' massive work on the civilizing process, in which he formulated his major assertions about the interdependence of the making of modern man and modern society. It is Elias' contention that changes in personality structure--embodied in phenomena ranging from table manners and hygiene habits to rites of punishment and courtly love--inevitably reflect and mould patterns of control generated by new political and social instututions. Elias' rejection of a dichotomy between individual and society, and his use of psychoanalysis, political theory, and social history, help restore a fullness of resource to sociology.

This book provides a comprehensive and accessible introduction to the key aspects of Norbert Elias's work.

Norbert Elias has been recognized as one of the key social scientists of the 20th century at least in sociology, political science and history. This book will address Norbert Elias's approach to empirical research, the use of his work in empirical research, and compare him with other theorists.