This book will compare the approach and works of Norbert Elias, well known for his analysis of the civilizing process, his work on sport and violence and, more largely, his figurational approach, with other important social theories both classical and contemporary.

Autorentext
Eric Dunning, University of Leicester, UK. Nathalie Heinich, Center of Research on the Arts and Language Barbara Evers, University of Manchester, UK Bernard Lahire, Max Weber Center (CNRS) Chris Powell, University of Manitoba, Canada Enio Passiani, Facamp, Brazil Hector Vera, The New School for Social research Florence Delmotte, Facultés Universitaires St-Louis, Belgium Leopoldo Waizbort, University of São Paulo, Brazil Vera Weiler, Universidad Nacional de Colombia Richard Kilminster, University of Leeds, UK Tim Berard, Kent State University, USA Paul Walsh, University of Toronto, Canada Ryan Powell, Sheffield Hallam University, UK John Flint, Sheffield Hallam University, UK

Inhalt
Introduction; Tatiana Savoia Landini and Francois Depelteau SECTION I : UNDERSTANDING ELIAS 1. Main Principles of Elias's Sociology; Tatiana Savoia Landini 2. Five misunderstandings of Elias's Thought; Nathalie Heinich 3. Ariel or Caliban? The Civilizing Process and its critiques; Francois Depelteau, Enio Passiani and Ricardo Mariano SECTION II: ELIAS AND CLASSICAL SOCIAL THEORY 4. The Epicurean in Elias; Anna-Louise Barbara Evers 5. Elias, Freud and the Human Sciences; Bernard Lahire 6. Contradiction and Interdependency: the sociologies of Karl Marx and Norbert Elias; Chris Powell 7. Past and Present in Sociological Theory: similarities and differences between Emile Durkheim and Norbert Elias; Enio Passiani 8. Norbert Elias and Emile Durkheim: seeds of a historical sociology of knowledge; Hector Vera 9. Irony as vocation; Marta Bucholc 10. Taking up the torch from Max Weber: Norbert Elias and the challenging of classical sociology; Markus Schroer and Jessica Wilde 11. From Elias back to Simmel; Leopoldo Waizbort SECTION III: ELIAS AND CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL THEORY 12. Norbert Elias and Karl Manheim: contrasting perspectives on the sociology of knowledge; Richard Kilminster 13. Under the Shadow of the Authoritarian Personality: Elias, Fromm, and Alternative Social Psychologies of Authoritarianism; Tim Berard 14. Norbert Elias and Hannah Arendt on Philosophy, Sociology and Science; Philip Walsh 15. Individualization and social dis/integration in "postmodernity": A comparative note on Zygmunt Bauman and Norbert Elias; John Flint and Ryan Powell 16. Comparing Elias and Bourdieu as relational thinkers; Francois Depelteau 17. From figuration to coordination: an analysis of social interdependence mechanisms; Jean-Hugues Dechaux