The Civilizing Process
Encyclopedia
The book The Civilizing Process written by German
sociologist
Norbert Elias
is an influential work in sociology and Elias' most important work. It was first published in 1939 in German
as Über den Prozeß der Zivilisation. Because of the World War it was virtually ignored, but republished in the 1960s when it was also translated into English. Covering roughly the timespan in European history between 800-1900 AD, Elias' is the first formal analysis and theory of civilization. The Civilizing Process is today regarded as the founding work of Figurational Sociology
.
The first volume, The History of Manners, traces the historical developments of the Europe
an habitus, or "second nature," the particular individual psychic structures molded by social attitudes. Elias traced how post-medieval European standards regarding violence, sexual behaviour, bodily functions, table manners and forms of speech were gradually transformed by increasing thresholds of shame and repugnance, working outward from a nucleus in court etiquette
. The internalized "self-restraint" imposed by increasingly complex networks of social connections developed the "psychological" self-perceptions that Freud
recognized as the "super-ego."
The second volume, State Formation and Civilization, looks into the causes of these processes and finds them in the increasingly centralized Early Modern state and the increasingly differentiated and interconnected web of society.
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
sociologist
Sociology
Sociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
Norbert Elias
Norbert Elias
Norbert Elias was a German sociologist of Jewish descent, who later became a British citizen.-Biography:...
is an influential work in sociology and Elias' most important work. It was first published in 1939 in German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
as Über den Prozeß der Zivilisation. Because of the World War it was virtually ignored, but republished in the 1960s when it was also translated into English. Covering roughly the timespan in European history between 800-1900 AD, Elias' is the first formal analysis and theory of civilization. The Civilizing Process is today regarded as the founding work of Figurational Sociology
Figurational Sociology
Figurational sociology is a research tradition in which figurations of humans - evolving networks of interdependent humans - are the unit of investigation. Although more a methodological stance than a determinate school of practice, the tradition has one essential feature:* Concern for process, not...
.
Themes
Originally published in 1939, the two-volume The Civilizing Process was virtually ignored until its republication in 1969, when its first volume was also translated into English.The first volume, The History of Manners, traces the historical developments of the Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an habitus, or "second nature," the particular individual psychic structures molded by social attitudes. Elias traced how post-medieval European standards regarding violence, sexual behaviour, bodily functions, table manners and forms of speech were gradually transformed by increasing thresholds of shame and repugnance, working outward from a nucleus in court etiquette
Etiquette
Etiquette is a code of behavior that delineates expectations for social behavior according to contemporary conventional norms within a society, social class, or group...
. The internalized "self-restraint" imposed by increasingly complex networks of social connections developed the "psychological" self-perceptions that Freud
Sigmund Freud
Sigmund Freud , born Sigismund Schlomo Freud , was an Austrian neurologist who founded the discipline of psychoanalysis...
recognized as the "super-ego."
The second volume, State Formation and Civilization, looks into the causes of these processes and finds them in the increasingly centralized Early Modern state and the increasingly differentiated and interconnected web of society.
English editions
- The Civilizing Process, Vol.I. The History of Manners, Oxford: Blackwell, 1969
- The Civilizing Process, Vol.II. State Formation and Civilization, Oxford: Blackwell, 1982.
- 2000, The Civilizing Process. Sociogenetic and Psychogenetic Investigations. Revised edition of 1994. Oxford: Blackwell
External links
- HyperElias@WorldCatalogue, a comprehensive online-bibliography.
- The Norbert Elias Foundation