NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Norbert Elias

Norbert Elias (born June 22, 1897 in Breslau, Germany (now Wrocław, Poland); died August 1, 1990 in Amsterdam) was a German sociologist of Jewish descent, who later became a British citizen. June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... 1897 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Wrocław. ... WrocÅ‚aw, ( [:vrÉ”Ê¦waf], German Breslau, Czech Vratislav, Latin Wratislavia; many Polish documents in English use the spelling Wroclaw) is the capital of Lower Silesia in southwestern Poland, situated on the Oder River (Odra). ... August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. ... This article is about the year. ... Amsterdam Location Country The Netherlands Province North Holland Population 739,298 (1 January 2005) Coordinates 52Â°22â€²N 4Â°54â€²E Website www. ... Social interactions of people and their consequences are the subject of sociology studies. ... // The word Jew (Hebrew: ×™×”×•×“×™ transliterated: Yehudi) is used in many ways but generally refers to a follower of Judaism, a child of a Jewish mother, or someone of Jewish descent with a connection to Jewish culture or ethnicity; and often a combination of these attributes. ...

His work focused on the relationship between power, behavior, emotion, and knowledge over time. He significantly shaped what is called process or figurational sociology. Due to historical circumstances, Elias had long remained a marginal author, until being (re-)discovered by a new generation of scholars in the 1970s, when he eventually became one of the most influential sociologists ever. Emotions are essentially impulses that move an organism to action, originating automatic reaction behavior which has been adapted through evolution as a survival need. ... Figurational sociology is a research tradition in which figurations of humans - evolving networks of interdependent humans - are the unit of investigation. ... The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ...

His late popularity can be partially attributed to the fact that his concept of large social figurations or networks explains the emergence and function of large societal structures without neglecting the aspect of individual agency. In the 1960s and 1970s, the overemphasis of structure over agency was heavily criticized about the then-dominant school of structural functionalism. Theories of structure and agency attempt to answer the question of action: How is it that I can do what I want with others when their goals are different, and often incompatible with mine? Early theories relied on a conception of free will. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from 1960 to 1969, inclusive. ... The 1970s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1970 and 1979. ... The article is about functionalism in sociology; for other uses, see functionalism. ...

Elias' most important work is the two-volume The Civilizing Process (Über den Prozess der Zivilisation). Originally published in 1939, it was virtually ignored until its republication in 1969, when its first volume was also translated into English. The first volume traces the historical developments of the European habitus, or "second nature," the particular individual psychic structures molded by social attitudes. Elias traced how post-medieval European standards regarding violence, sexual behaviour, bodily functions, table manners and forms of speech were gradually transformed by increasing thresholds of shame and repugnance, working outward from a nucleus in court etiquette. The internalized "self-restraint" imposed by increasingly complex networks of social connections developed the "psychological" self-perceptions that Freud recognized as the "super-ego." The second volume of The Civilizing Process looks into the causes of these processes and finds them in the increasingly centralized Early Modern state and the increasingly differentiated and interconnected web of society. The book The Civilizing Process written by German sociologist Norbert Elias was an influential work in sociology. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... A satellite composite image of Europe // Etymology Picture of Europa, carried away by bull-shaped Zeus. ... Etiquette is the code that governs the expectations of social behavior, the conventional norm. ... Sigmund Freud Sigmund Freud [] (May 6, 1856 â€“ September 23, 1939) was an Austrian neurologist and the founder of the psychoanalytic school of psychology, based on his theory that human development is best understood in terms of changing objects of sexual desire; that the unconscious often represses wishes (generally of a... In his theory of psychoanalysis, Sigmund Freud sought to explain how the unconscious mind operates by proposing that it has a particular structure. ...

When Elias' work found a larger audience in the 1960s, at first his analysis of the process was misunderstood as an extension of discredited "social Darwinism," the idea of upward "progress" was dismissed by reading it as consecutive history rather than a metaphor for a social process. Social Darwinism is a term used to describe a style or trend in social theory which holds that Darwins theory of evolution of biological traits in a population by natural selection can also be applied to human social institutions. ...

The Quest for excitement, written by Norbert Elias with Eric Dunning, and published in 1986 has proved a seminal work for the sociology of sport, and of football in particular. The Centre for the sociology of sport at the University of Leicester, England is host to a number of important sociologists who work on the Elias and Dunning tradition. Social interactions of people and their consequences are the subject of sociology studies. ... Football is the name given to a number of different team sports. ... The University of Leicester is a leading research led UK university based in Leicester, England, with almost twenty thousand registered students - about ten thousand of them full-time students, and seven thousand of them distance-learning students (the largest distance learning population of any UK university other than the Open...

Biography

Elias was born on June 22, 1897 in Breslau in Silesia to Hermann and Sophie Elias. His father was a businessman in the textile industry and his mother, as usual at the time, a housewife. After passing the abitur in 1915 he volunteered for the German army in World War I and was employed as a telegrapher, first at the Eastern front, then at the Western front. After a suffering nervous breakdown in 1917, he was declared unfit for service and was posted to Breslau as a medical orderly. The same year, Elias began studying philosophy, psychology and medicine at the University of Breslau, in addition spending a term each at the universities of Heidelberg, where he attended lectures by Karl Jaspers, and Freiburg in 1919 and 1920. He quit medicine in 1919 after passing the preliminary examination (Physikum). To finance his studies after his father's fortune had been reduced by hyperinflation, he took up a job as the head of the export department in a local hardware factory 1922. In 1924, he graduated with a doctoral dissertation in philosophy entitled Idee und Individuum ("Idea and Individual") supervised by Richard Hönigswald, a representative of Neo-Kantianism. Disappointed about the absence of the social aspect from Neo-Kantianism, which had led to a serious dispute with his supervisor about his dissertation, Elias decided to turn to sociology for his further studies. June 22 is the 173rd day of the year (174th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar, with 192 days remaining. ... 1897 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Wrocław. ... Prussian Silesia, 1871, outlined in yellow; Silesia at the close of the Seven Years War in 1763, outlined in cyan (areas now in Czech Republic were Austrian-ruled at that time) Silesia (-Latin, Polish: ÅšlÄ…sk, German: Schlesien, Czech: Slezsko) is a historical region in central Europe. ... Abitur is the word commonly used in Germany for the final exams young adults (aged 18 or 19) take at the end of their secondary education, usually after 12 or 13 years of schooling. ... 1915 (MCMXV) was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... Clockwise from top: Trenches in frontline, a British Mark I Tank crossing a trench, the Royal Navy battleship HMS Irresistible sinking after striking a mine at the battle of the Dardanelles, a Vickers machine gun crew with gas masks and a Sopwith Camel biplane. ... Telegraphy (from the Greek words tele = far and graphein = write) is the long-distance transmission of written messages without physical transport of letters, originally over wire. ... 1917 (MCMXVII) was a common year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar (see link for calendar) or a common year starting on Tuesday of the Julian calendar. ... These five broad types of question are called analytical or logical, epistemological, ethical, metaphysical, and aesthetic respectively. ... Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = soul or mind, logos/-ology = study of) is an academic and applied field involving the study of mind and behavior. ... See also Medical doctor (BE), Physician (AE), and Medical school. ... The University of Breslau (UniversitÃ¤t Breslau) was a university in Breslau, Germany, which existed from 1702 until the city with the rest of Silesia was occupied by Stalin and given to the Peoples Republic of Poland after the Second World War. ... The Ruprecht Karl University of Heidelberg (German Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg; also known as simply University of Heidelberg) was established in the town of Heidelberg in the Rhineland in 1386. ... Karl Jaspers Karl Theodor Jaspers (February 23, 1883 â€“ February 26, 1969), a German psychiatrist and philosopher, had a strong influence on modern theology, psychiatry and philosophy. ... Albert Ludwigs University of Freiburg was founded 1457 in Freiburg by the Habsburgs. ... 1919 (MCMXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday (see link for calendar). ... 1920 (MCMXX) is a leap year starting on Thursday (link will take you to calendar) // Events January January 7 - Forces of Russian White admiral Kolchak surrender in Krasnoyarsk. ... In economics, hyperinflation is inflation which is out of control, a condition in which prices increase rapidly as a currency loses its value. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1924 (MCMXXIV) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... Richard HÃ¶nigswald (b. ... Neo-Kantianism means a revived or modified type of philosophy along the lines of that laid down by Immanuel Kant in the eighteenth century. ... Social interactions of people and their consequences are the subject of sociology studies. ...

During his Breslau years, until 1925, Elias was deeply involved in the German Zionist movement, and acted as one of the leading intellectuals within the German-Jewish youth movement "Blau-Weiss" (Blue-White). During these years he got acquainted with other young zionists like Erich Fromm, Leo Strauss, Leo Löwenthal and Gershom Scholem. In 1925, Elias moved to Heidelberg, where Alfred Weber accepted him as a candidate for a habilitation (second book project) on the development of modern science, entitled Die Bedeutung der Florentiner Gesellschaft und Kultur für die Entstehung der Wissenschaft ("The Significance of Florentine Society and Culture for the Development of Science"). In 1930 Elias chose to cancel this project and followed Karl Mannheim to become his assistant at the University of Frankfurt. However, after the Nazi take-over in early 1933, Mannheim's sociological institute was forced to close. The already submitted habilitation thesis entitled Der höfische Mensch ("The Man of the Court") was never formally accepted and not published until 1969. In 1933, Elias fled to Paris. His elderly parents remained in Breslau, where his father died in 1940; his mother was deported to Auschwitz, where she probably was killed in 1941. Erich Fromm Erich Fromm (March 23, 1900 â€“ March 18, 1980) was an internationally renowned German-American psychologist and humanistic philosopher. ... Leo Strauss (September 20, 1899 â€“ October 18, 1973), was a Jewish German-American political philosopher and Intellectual Historian. ... Leo LÃ¶wenthal (* November 3, 1900, Frankfurt am Main - â€ January 21, 1993, Berkeley, California) was the German Sociologist of Frankfurt School. ... Gershom Scholem (born December 5, 1897 in Berlin, died February 21, 1982 in Jerusalem), also known as Gerhard Scholem, was a German-born Jewish philosopher and historian. ... Heidelberg (halfway between Stuttgart and Frankfurt) is a city in Baden-WÃ¼rttemberg, Germany. ... Alfred Weber (born July 30, 1868 in Erfurt _ died May 2, 1958 in Heidelberg) German economist, sociologist and theoretician of culture. ... Habilitation is a term used within the university system in Germany, Austria, and some other European countries such as the German-speaking part of Switzerland, in Poland, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Slovenia, Russia, and other countries of former Soviet Union, such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Moldova, Kirgizstan, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, etc. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Karl Mannheim (March 27, 1893, Budapest - January 9, 1947, London) was a Hungarian-born sociologist, influential in the first half of the 20th century. ... I.G.Farben Building at Campus Westend The Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University of Frankfurt am Main (commonly called the University of Frankfurt) was founded in 1914 as a Citizens University, which means that while it was a State university of Prussia, it had been founded and financed by the wealthy... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Nazism. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... 1933 (MCMXXXIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Eiffel Tower has become a symbol of Paris throughout the world. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Auschwitz is the name loosely used to identify three main Nazi German concentration camps and 45-50 sub-camps. ... For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

During his two years in Paris, Elias worked as a private scholar supported by a scholarship from the Amsterdam Steunfonds Foundation. In 1935, he moved on to Great Britain, where he worked on his magnum opus, The Civilizing Process, until 1939, now supported by a scholarship from a relief organization for Jewish refugees. In 1939, he met up with his former supervisor Mannheim at the London School of Economics, where he obtained a position as Senior Research Assistant. In 1940, when an invasion of Britain by German forces appeared imminent, Elias was detained at internment camps in Liverpool and on the Isle of Man for eight months, on account of his being German (even as Jew). During his internment he organized political lectures and staged a drama he had written himself, Die Ballade vom armen Jakob ("The Ballad of Poor Jacob") (eventually published in 1987). 1935 (MCMXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The book The Civilizing Process written by German sociologist Norbert Elias was an influential work in sociology. ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... The London School of Economics and Political Science, often referred to as the London School of Economics or simply the LSE, is a specialist university in London and is regarded as the worlds most prestigious social science institution. ... 1940 (MCMXL) was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Liverpools skyline, as seen from the River Mersey. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Upon his release in 1941, he moved to Cambridge. He taught evening classes for the Workers Educational Association (the adult education organization of the Labour Party), and later evening extension courses in sociology, psychology, economics and economic history at the University of Leicester. He also held occasional lectureships at other institutions of higher learning. While in Cambridge, he trained as a group therapist under the psychoanalyst Siegfried Heinrich Foulkes, another German emigrant, with whom he co-founded the Group Analytic Society in 1952 and worked as a group therapist. For the movie, see 1941 (film) 1941 (MCMXLI) was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... This article is about Cambridge, England; see also other places called Cambridge. ... The Workers Educational Association (WEA) is a British voluntary organisation, active in the field of adult education. ... The Labour Party is the principal centre-left political party in the United Kingdom (see British politics). ... Psychology (ancient Greek: psyche = soul or mind, logos/-ology = study of) is an academic and applied field involving the study of mind and behavior. ... U.S. Economic Calendar Economics at the Open Directory Project Economics textbooks on Wikibooks The Economists Economics A-Z Daily analysis of economics in the news (UK focus) Institutions and organizations Bureau of Labor Statistics - from the American Labor Department Center for Economic and Policy Research (USA) National Bureau... Economic history is the application of economic theories to historical study. ... The University of Leicester is a leading research led UK university based in Leicester, England, with almost twenty thousand registered students - about ten thousand of them full-time students, and seven thousand of them distance-learning students (the largest distance learning population of any UK university other than the Open... 1952 (MCMLII) was a leap year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In 1954, he moved to Leicester, where he became a lecturer at, and contributed to the development of, the University's Department of Sociology, until his retirement in 1962. At Leicester, his students included Martin Albrow and Anthony Giddens. 1954 (MCMLIV) was a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Leicester city centre, looking towards the clock tower Leicester (pronounced ) is the largest city in the English East Midlands. ... 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Right Honourable Anthony Giddens, Baron Giddens (b. ...

From 1962 to 1964, Elias taught as professor emeritus of sociology at the University of Ghana in Legon near Accra. After his return to Europe in 1965, he based himself in Amsterdam but travelled much as a visiting professor, mainly at German universities. His reputation and popularity grew immensely after the republication of The Civilising Process in 1969. From 1978 to 1984 he worked at the Center for Interdisciplinary Research at the University of Bielefeld. 1962 (MCMLXII) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... The University of Ghana is the oldest and largest of the five Ghanaian public universities. ... Accra, population 1,970,400 (2005), is the capital of Ghana. ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar). ... Amsterdam Location Country The Netherlands Province North Holland Population 739,298 (1 January 2005) Coordinates 52Â°22â€²N 4Â°54â€²E Website www. ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Bielefeld University (German: UniversitÃ¤t Bielefeld) is a university in Bielefeld, Germany. ...

Elias was the first ever laureate of both the Theodor W. Adorno Award (1977) and the European Amalfi Prize for Sociology and Social Sciences (1987). The Theodor W. Adorno Award is a highly prestigious German award for outstanding achievement in philosophy, theatre, music, and film. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... The European Amalfi Prize for Sociology and Social Sciences (Premio Europeo Amalfi per la Sociologia e le Scienze Sociali) is a prestigious Italian award in the social sciences. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Elias died at his home in Amsterdam on 1 August 1990. August 1 is the 213th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (214th in leap years), with 152 days remaining. ... This article is about the year. ...

Books

1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1965 (MCMLXV) was a common year starting on Friday (link goes to calendar). ... 1969 (MCMLXIX) was a common year starting on Wednesday For other uses, see Number 1969. ... 1970 (MCMLXX) was a common year starting on Thursday. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1982 (MCMLXXXII) is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1984 (MCMLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... 1986 (MCMLXXXVI) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about the year. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1996 (MCMXCVI) is a leap year starting on Monday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year for the Eradication of Poverty. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 1998 (MCMXCVIII) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar, and was designated the International Year of the Ocean. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) was a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... 2002 (MMII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

External links

Categories: 1897 births | 1990 deaths | German sociologists | Lecturers of the London School of Economics The University of Sydney The University of Sydney, established in 1850, is the oldest university in Australia, and it is located in Sydney, the capital city of the state of New South Wales. ... The VPRO (originally an acronym for Vrijzinnig Protestantse Radio Omroep, or free-thinking protestant radio broadcasting company, but since long the acronym has been kept but its meaning dropped) was established in the Netherlands in 1926 as a religious broadcasting organization, linked to the protestant pillar. ...

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