Originally published in 1991 and now reissued by Continuum International, this book consists of 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. The entire …
This essay has, since it was first published in 1956, been regarded as a classic statement on sociological method. Here it is combined with two other of the author's essays. His study represents a departure from traditional sociological and philosophical theories of knowledge. It explores how people orient themselves …
"Mozart's need for love had grown uncertain of itself in early childhood. His feeling of being unloved found constant confirmation in his changing experiences over the years, and the intensity of his unsatisfied desire to be loved, detectable as a dominant wish throughout his life, very largely determined what had …
The nature of time, and how various societies describe and measure the passage of time, has long been one of the most fascinating areas of social history and philosophy. In this essay Norbert Elias argues that what we call "time" is neither an innate feature of the human mind, nor an immanent characteristic of …