Norbert Elias (1897–1990) achieved international recognition as a major sociologist only towards the end of his long life. As a German Jewish refugee in England, he did not even gain a secure academic post (at the University of Leicester) until he was 57. Apart from his magnum opus, Über den Prozess der Zivilisation [The Civilizing Process], which was published obscurely in 1939, all his other books and most of his essays were published after his formal retirement. These personal recollections date from that last highly productive part of his life, when he gradually attracted an extensive international following. They depict his foibles, some endearing, some that seemed perversely to stand in the way of his growing reputation.
Blau, P. M. (1964) Exchange and Power in Social Life. New York: Wiley .
2.
Drummond , Sir Jack and Wilbraham, A. (1939) The Englishman's Food. London: Jonathan Cape .
3.
Elias, N. (1956) ‘Problems of Involvement and Detachment’ , British Journal of Sociology7(3): 226–252 . (This essay is reprinted, with additions and corrections, in Involvement and Detachment, vol. 8 of the ‘Collected Works of Norbert Elias’. Dublin: UCD Press, forthcoming 2006.)
4.
Elias, N. (1970) African Art from the Collection of Norbert Elias, exhibition catalogue. Leicester: City of Leicester Art Gallery .
5.
Elias, N. (1971) ‘Sociology of Knowledge: New Perspectives’ , Sociology5(2 and 3): 149–168 , 355–70.
6.
Elias, N. (1972) ‘Theory of Science and History of Science: Comments on a Recent Discussion’ , Economy and Society1(2): 117–133 .
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Elias, N. (1974) ‘Towards a Theory of Communities’, in C. Bell and H. Newby (eds) The Sociology of Community: A Selection of Readings. London, Frank Cass , pp. ix–xli.
8.
Elias, N. (1978) What Is Sociology?, trans. S. Mennell and G. Morrissey . New York: Columbia University Press .
9.
Elias, N. (1982) ‘Scientific Establishments’, in N. Elias , H. Martins and R. Whitley (eds) Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies: Sociology of the Sciences Yearbook. Dordrecht: Reidel , pp. 3–70.
10.
Elias, N. (1985) The Loneliness of the Dying. Oxford: Basil Blackwell .
11.
Elias, N. (1987a) Die Gesellschaft der Individuen [The Society of Individuals]. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp .
12.
Elias, N. (1987b) Los der Menschen: Gedichte/Nachdichtungen [The Human Lot: Poems and Poetry Translations]. Frankfurt: Suhrkamp .
13.
Elias, N. (1991a) The Society of Individuals. Oxford: Blackwell .
14.
Elias, N. (1991b) The Symbol Theory. London: Sage .
15.
Elias, N. (1992) Time: An Essay. Oxford: Blackwell . (A revised edition, An Essay on Time, will be published as vol. 9 of the ‘Collected Works of Norbert Elias’. Dublin: UCD Press, forthcoming 2006.)
16.
Elias, N. (1994) Reflections on a Life. Cambridge: Polity Press .
17.
Elias, N. (1996) The Germans: Power Struggles and the Development of Habitus in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries. Oxford: Polity Press .
18.
Elias, N. (2000) The Civilizing Process: Sociogenetic and Psychogenetic Investigations, rev. edn.Oxford: Blackwell .
19.
Elias, N. (2006) ‘Collected Works of Norbert Elias’, vol. 2, The Court Society, rev. edn.Dublin: UCD Press .
20.
Elias, N. and Dunning, E. (1986) Quest for Excitement: Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process. Oxford: Blackwell . (A new edition will appear as vol. 7 of the ‘Collected Works’ of Norbert Elias. Dublin: UCD Press, forthcoming 2007.)
21.
Elias, N. and Scotson, J. L. (1994[1965]) The Established and the Outsiders: An Enquiry into Community Problems, 2nd edn.London: Sage .
22.
Goudsblom, J. (1977) Sociology in the Balance. Oxford: Blackwell .
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Goudsblom, J. (1988) ‘Priesters en Krijgers’ [Priests and Warriors], in Taal en Sociale Werkelijkheid. Amsterdam: Meulenhoff , pp. 104–131.
24.
Goudsblom, J. , Jones, E. and Mennell, S. (1996) The Course of Human History: Economic Growth, Social Process, and Civilization. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe .
25.
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27.
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Kilminster, R. (1998) The Sociological Revolution: From the Enlightenment to the Global Age. London: Routledge .
29.
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Mennell, S. (1974) Sociological Theory: Uses and Unities. London: Nelson .
31.
Mennell, S. (1975) ‘Ethnomethodology and the NewMethodenstreit’, Acta Sociologica18(4): 287–302 .
32.
Mennell, S. (1977) ‘“Individual” Action and its “Social” Consequences in the Work of Elias’, in P. R. Gleichmann , J. Goudsblom and H. Korte (eds) Human Figurations: Essays for Norbert Elias. Amsterdam: Stichting Amsterdams Sociologisch Tijdschrift , pp. 99–109.
33.
Mennell, S. (1985) All Manners of Food: Eating and Taste in England and France from the Middle Ages to the Present. Oxford: Blackwell .
34.
Mennell, S. (1989) Norbert Elias: Civilization and the Human Self-Image. Oxford: Blackwell . A revised edition is entitled Norbert Elias: An Introduction. Dublin: UCD Press, 1998.
35.
Parsons, T. (1937) The Structure of Social Action. New York: McGraw Hill .
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Parsons, T. (1970) ‘On Building Social System Theory: a Personal History’ , Daedalus99(4): 826–881 .
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Popper, K. R. (1972) Objective Knowledge: An Evolutionary Approach. Oxford: Clarendon Press .
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Scott, J. (1995) Sociological Theory: Contemporary Debates. Aldershot, Hants: Edward Elgar .
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Seglow, I. (1977) ‘Work at a Research Programme’, in P. R. Gleichmann , J. Goudsblom and H. Korte (eds) Human Figurations: Essays for Norbert Elias. Amsterdam: Stichting Amsterdams Sociologisch Tijdschrift , pp. 16–21.
40.
Simmel, G. (1950[1908]) The Sociology of Georg Simmel. Glencoe, IL: Free Press .
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Wallerstein, I. (1974) The Modern World System, vol. 1, Capitalist Agriculture... New York: Academic Press .
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