Böcker i Collected Works of Norbert Eli-serien

Involvement and Detachment is much more than a discussion of 'objectivity' in the social sciences. It is Elias's major exposition of his sociological theory of the growth of knowledge and the sciences as an aspect of overall human social development. From The Collected Works of Norbert Elias.

"First published as a book under the title The Symbol Theory, 1991 by Sage, London"--T.p. verso.

Studies on the Germans, Volume 11 of the Collected Works, was first published in German in 1989. The essays in the book were written independently of each other over three decades. In this new edition, Elias's original English text of the extremely important essay The Breakdown of Civilisation' is published for the first time. Other essays include those on dueling and its wider social significance, as well as on nationalism, civilization, and violence, and post-war terrorism in the Federal Republic of Germany. All the essays have been newly annotated by the editors, especially to make clear many historical references that Elias, unrealistically, assumed his readers would understand without further explanation.

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. This volume can serve as an excellent introduction to Elias's thinking overall. Volume 17 in The Collected Works of Norbert Elias.

Norbert Elias (1897-90) was one of the greatest sociologists of the twentieth century. His works (some originally written in English and some in German) extend the theory of civilizing processes in major contributions to the historical understanding of the growth of knowledge and the sciences, of sport and leisure, of art and literature, and of the whole long-term development of human society. The volumes contain many writings not until now published in English, and previous editions have been thoroughly checked and revised, with many clarifications, cross-references and explanatory notes.