In a hyper-individualistic age and in the face of the narrowly focused, policy-oriented research ubiquitous in the social sciences, this book revisits the humanistic world-view that is integral to Norbert Elias’s pre-eminent figurational-process sociology, with the aim of increasing the fund of sociological knowledge that has the human condition as its horizon. Clarifying the contentious ‘post-philosophical’ aspects in order to supplement standard histories of sociology with new insights, it offers incisive evaluations of some of the bewildered attempts by prominent sociologists to diagnose the malaise of contemporary globalised society. It also challenges the orthodox limitation of the empirical scope of sociology to ‘modernity’. With its ominous warnings of the destructive prevalence of ‘overcritique’ in the discipline and lack of in-depth sociological psychology, Post-Philosophical Sociology will appeal to scholars of sociology, psychoanalysis, social philosophy, cultural theory and social and political theory with interests in developmental and dynamic thinking and the history of the discipline.

In "Culture, Modernity and Revolution" a group of internationally renowned sociologists from East and West, come together to honor Zygmunt Bauman. Their essays not only honor the man, but provide important contributions to the three interlinked themes that could be said to form the guiding threads of Bauman's life and work: power, culture and modernity. "Culture, Modernity and Revolution" is both a remarkable sociological commentary on the problems facing East-Central Europe and an exposition of some of the key, hitherto neglected, features of the modern cultural universe.
The book has a unity of purpose. In no sense is it a development of Bauman's ideas by followers: its editors retain a critical distance and seek to present the man and his ideas to a wide audience. It will be of interest to sociologists, philosophers, political scientists and students of culture.

This sociological critique of the 'philosophy of praxis' looks at the importance of the concept in the social theory of leading influential Western Marxists such as Lukacs, Gramsci, Korsch, Horkheimer, Marcuse and Adorno in the inter-war period. It offers a detailed critique of Marx and Hegel, and explores the validity and implications for sociology of two of Marx's ideas which the later theorists made the centre piece of their social theory: first, that true theory is authenticated by praxis, and second, its corollary that certain major social transformations should and would in practice render sociology redundant.

Few sociologists of the first rank have scandalized the academic world to the extent that Elias did. Developed out of the German sociology of knowledge in the 1920s, Elias s sociology contains a sweeping radicalism which declares an academic war on all your houses . His sociology of the human condition sweeps aside the contemporary focus on modernity and rejects most of the paradigms of sociology as one-sided, economistic, teleological, individualistic and/or rationalistic. As sociologists, Elias also asks us to distance ourselves from mainstream psychology, history and above all, philosophy, which is summarily abandoned, although carried forward on a higher level.

This enlightening book written by a close friend and pupil of Elias, is the first book to explain the refractory, uncomfortable, side of Elias s sociological radicalism and to brace us for its implications. It is also the first in-depth analysis of Elias s last work The Symbol Theory in the light of selected contemporary developments in archaeology, anthropology and evolutionary theory."

Few sociologists of the first rank have scandalized the academic world to the extent that Elias did. Developed out of the German sociology of knowledge in the 1920s, Elias's sociology contains a sweeping radicalism which declares an academic 'war on all your houses'. His sociology of the 'human condition' sweeps aside the contemporary focus on 'modernity' and rejects most of the paradigms of sociology as one-sided, economistic, teleological, individualistic and/or rationalistic. As sociologists, Elias also asks us to distance ourselves from mainstream psychology, history and above all, philosophy, which is summarily abandoned, although carried forward on a higher level. This enlightening book written by a close friend and pupil of Elias, is the first book to explain the refractory, uncomfortable, side of Elias's sociological radicalism and to brace us for its implications. It is also the first in-depth analysis of Elias's last work The Symbol Theory in the light of selected contemporary developments in archaeology, anthropology and evolutionary theory.

Controversially turning away from the current debates which surround "social theory", this book offers historical analysis of the "profound burden" of sociology and its implications today. The author provides detailed studies of a number of contemporary theories, ranging from historical materialism, phenomenology, structuralism and world system theory. He contends that the rightful heir of the sociological tradition is the dynamic sociology of knowledge, in particular the figuration research programme of Norbert Elias. In its sociological analysis of philosophy, the book ranges from analyses of the Hegelian Apogee to Marx's Theory of Knowledge, combined with an examination of the current condition of sociology. "The Sociological Revolution" might be of interest to students across a number of disciplines, including philosophy, sociology, the history of ideas and cultural studies.

In Culture, Modernity and Revolution a group of distinguished sociologists and social philosophers reflect upon the major concerns of Zygmunt Bauman. Their essays not only honour the man, but provide important contributions to the three interlinked themes that could be said to form the guiding threads of Bauman's life work: power, culture and modernity. Culture, Modernity and Revolution is both a remarkable sociological commentary on the problems facing East-Central Europe and an exposition of some of the key, hitherto neglected, features of the modern cultural universe.

By controversially turning away from the current debates which surround social theory, this book provides an historical analysis of the profound burden of sociology and its implications today.

Between the end of the Second World War and his death in 1990, Elias published almost 60 articles on a wide range of topics. About a third of them have not previously appeared in English, and many of the rest were widely scattered and difficult to obtain. They are being published in three thematic volumes, all edited by Richard Kilminster and Stephen Mennell. In this volume, Elias develops his sociological theory of knowledge and the sciences - in the plural - to counter what he sees as the inadequacies of traditional philosophical theories. Included are savage attacks on the philosophy of Karl Popper and its damaging influence, a brilliant essay on scientific establishments, and essays on Thomas More and the social uses of utopias.

Almost half of the 28 essays in this volume have not been published in English before, and many of the others are little-known. Some directly express Elias's dissatisfaction with the historical, present-centered trend of modern sociology. Others scintillatingly show how wide-ranging were Elias's own sociological interests. Topics include, among many others: the work of Theodor Adorno; sociology and psychiatry; psychosomatic illness; human emotions; communities in long-term perspective; the changing balance of power between the sexes; African art; football; and even pigeon racing. Edited by Richard Kilminster and Stephen Mennell.

Ranging in date from Elias's teenage years before the First World War to the 1930s, the writings in this volume previously unpublished in English include the essay 'On Seeing in Nature', his doctoral dissertation 'Idea and Individual', a response to Karl Mannheim's famous paper on cultural competition, and a number of short stories contributed to a newspaper. Other essays collected together here concern primitive art, the sociology of German anti-Semitism, kitsch style and the age of kitsch, and the expulsion of the Huguenots from France. This edition includes as an appendix a draft outline of Elias's Habilitation thesis begun under Alfred Weber. Early Writings have been translated from the German edition, Fruschriften, published by Suhrkamp Verlag, Frankfurt/Main as volume 1 of the Norbert Elias Gesammelte Schriften, 2002.

This sociological critique of the 'philosophy of praxis' looks at the importance of the concept in the social theory of leading influential Western Marxists such as Lukacs, Gramsci, Korsch, Horkheimer, Marcuse and Adorno in the inter-war period. It offers a detailed critique of Marx and Hegel, and explores the validity and implications for sociology of two of Marx's ideas which the later theorists made the centre piece of their social theory: first, that true theory is authenticated by praxis, and second, its corollary that certain major social transformations should and would in practice render sociology redundant.

Eleven of the 18 essays by Norbert Elias collected in this volume have not been published previously in English, and several of the remainder were not easily obtained. The themes of this volume represent major extensions of and reflections upon the ideas first advanced in "The Civilizing Process". The topics include violence and civilisation; the civilising of parents; privacy; conflict and change within communities; public opinion and national character in Britain; the charismatic leadership of Adolf Hitler; and the fear of death.

"The Symbol Theory, volume 13 in "The Collected Works of Norbert Elias", situates the human capacity for forming symbols in the long-term biological evolution of Homo sapiens, showing how it is linked through communication and orientation to group survival. Elias proceeds to recast the question of the ontological status of knowledge, moving beyond the old philosophical dualisms of idealism/materialism and subject/object. He readjusts the boundary between the 'social' and the 'natural' by interweaving evolutionary biology and the social sciences. "The Symbol Theory" provides nothing less than a new image of the human condition as an accidental outcome of the blind flux of an indifferent cosmos. Elias' Introduction now includes previously unpublished passages written in the days before he died.

Vol. 17 of the Collected Works can serve as an excellent introduction to Elias's thinking overall. In the last decade of his life, Elias gave many interviews in which he discussed aspects of his work, rebutting many common misunderstandings of his thinking and further developing ideas sketched out in his writings. Besides a selection of these 'academic' interviews (many of them not previously published in English, or not published at all), the book contains his essay in intellectual autobiography and a long interview in which he talks about his own life.