Böcker av Norbert Elias

The Symbol Theory draws together three central themes. At the first level the book is concerned with symbols in relation to language, knowing and thinking. Secondly, Elias stresses that symbols are tangible sound-patterns of human communication. Finally, the book addresses theoretical issues about the ontological status of knowledge.

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.

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.

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 All the essays have been newly annotated by the editors, especially to make clear many historical references that Elias, unrealistically, assumed his readers would understand without further explanation.

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

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.

Originally published in 1985, this is a short meditation by an old man on people relating to other people who are dying, and the need for all of us to open up.

Originally published in 1991, this book is in three sections. The first, written in 1939, was either left out of Elias's most famous book, "The Civilizing Process", or was written along with it. Part 2 was written between 1940 and 1960. Part 3 is from 1987.

A local community study of tense relations between an established group and outsiders becomes a microcosm that illuminates a range of sociological configurations. The Established and the Outsiders examines the mechanisms of stigmatization, monopolization of power, collective fantasy and `we' and `they' images which support and reinforce divisions in society.