Norbert Elias
German sociologist (1897-1990) · United Kingdom · Academics · Died at 93
Norbert Elias is read about 342 times a day, in 45 languages.
Counted to 16 September 2026, not since.
The middle day of the days counted, so one week of news cannot move it. The line under it is the last 361 days, one point a day.
Something wrong?The sociologist who argued that Western manners - forks, handkerchiefs, the whole apparatus of polite restraint - weren't natural refinements but historical accidents, produced by shifting power structures and the slow monopolization of violence by the state.
A life in dates
Also in Deutsch
Photos 8
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In their own words 3
, The psychogenesis of the adult make-up in civilized society cannot, therefore be understood if considered independently of the sociogenesis of our "civilization." ...
If the present study has any significance at all, this results not least from its opposition to this mingling of what is and what ought to be, of scientific analysis with ideals.
I wish you all the pleasurable excitement one can have without hurting others and one's own dignity.
Awards
About this person
Born in Germany on 22 June 1897, Norbert Elias trained as a sociologist in a Europe that would soon try to destroy him. He fled the Nazis, eventually landing in Britain and taking citizenship in his adopted country. There he developed his theory of civilizing and decivilizing processes - the idea that what we call civilization is neither progress nor inevitable, but a fragile outcome of social forces that can reverse. The work made him famous, though recognition came late. He died on 1 August 1990, having watched the twentieth century test his thesis in blood.
Academics from the United Kingdom 6
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