37
Newsletter of the Norbert Elias Foundation
FIGURATIONS UNDER CONTENTS NEW MANAGEMENT
Figurations under new management 1 Barbara Górnicka has been appointed Managing Editor of Figurations, and Human Figurations 1 the newsletter also has a brand-new email address: People 2 ¿JXUDWLRQV#QRUEHUWHOLDVIRXQGDWLRQQO From the Norbert Elias Foundation Brett Bowden wins Norbert Elias Prize 2011 3 All contributions to, and correspondence about, Figurations At last! – Elias’s Masterpiece out in the Collected Works 3 should henceforth be sent to the above DGGUHVV In the media 4 Stephen Mennell will continue as Elias’s study of shame – Tom Scheff 6 overall Editor of the newsletter, with Katie Liston as Associate Elias on the Isle of Man 7 Editor (although Katie now has Kilminster: the pronoun model 7 principal responsibility for the new online journal Human Figurations – Obituary: Willfried Spohn 1944–2012 8 KXPDQ¿JXUDWLRQV#PHFRP %DUEDUD will, however, now manage the Review essay: ‘Unconscious memories’: a case study of psychoanalytic QHZVOHWWHU concept formation – Hans-Peter Waldhoff 9 Barbara is a postgraduate student at Recent books and articles 11 University College Dublin, where (as participants in the recent conference in Bibliographical retrospect 15 Copenhagen will know), she is writing a thesis on nudism and the problem of Books received 16 QDNHGQHVV Recent conferences 17 Norbert Elias and Figurational Sociology: Prospects for the Future, The newsletter will henceforth be Copenhagen, April 2012 published in January and July each New issues in Process Sociology, Berlin, December 2011 year (instead of December and June as KLWKHUWR Forthcoming conferences 19 XIV Civilising Processes International Symposium – Brazil, November 2012 Habitus, War and Civilisation, Graz, April 2012
Issue No.37 July 2012 Figurations 1 HUMAN FIGURATIONS Issue 2 – July 2012 a long discussion of ‘Where is Norbert Elias and the Human Condition Scotland going?’ By the time you are reading this issue Godfried van Benthem van den Bergh Andrew Stebbins, who wrote RIWKHQHZVOHWWHUWKH¿UVWWZRLVVXHV The Taming of Economic Aristocracies a notable PhD thesis on ‘The of the new online journal Human Reinhard Blomert Chinese Civilising Process: FigurationsZLOOKDYHDSSHDUHG :H Politics in a World of Civilizations: Eliasian thought as an effective are resigned to the confusion that Long-Term Perspectives on Relations analytical tool for the Chinese will arise between Figurations, the Between Peoples Brett Bowden cultural context’ (see Figurations newsletter, and Human Figurations, Viewing the Development of Human 32) at Murdoch University, Perth WKHMRXUQDO 7KHMRXUQDOLVSXEOLVKHG Society from Asia Shogo Suzuki WA, has been appointed to a by MPublishing at the University Cultures of Anarchy as Figurations: post at Mount Vernon Nazarene of Minnesota, and sponsored by the 5HÀHFWLRQVRQ:HQGW(OLDVDQGWKH University in Ohio, and will be 1RUEHUW(OLDV)RXQGDWLRQ 2 Figurations Issue No.37 July 2012 FROM THE NORBERT because, according to Bowden, it is The prize will be presented to Brett by ELIAS FOUNDATION in itself ‘performative’, in the sense Robert van Krieken on behalf of the of being historically ‘implicated’ in Norbert Elias Foundation at a gathering Brett Bowden wins Norbert Western triumphalism, imperialism and LQ6\GQH\ODWHULQ Elias Prize 2011 FRORQLDOLVP)RU%RZGHQDFLYLOLVLQJ process points less to long-term set [Editor’s Note: The continuing use The Norbert Elias Prize is awarded of largely blind processes involving, of the term ‘civilisation’ in the sense HYHU\WZR\HDUVIRUWKHEHVW¿UVWERRN simultaneously, interrelated process analysed in Brett Bowden’s book is by an author in sociology or closely of state formation and shifting shown in the continuing publication of FRJQDWH¿HOGV)RUWKHSUL]HIRU standards of behaviour, and more to the books with titles like Niall Ferguson’s a book published in 2009–10, the jury, ‘evolution of an idea’ that has in itself Civilization: The West and the Rest consisting of Jason Hughes, Elizabeth HQJHQGHUHGVRFLDOFKDQJH7RWKLVHQG (London: Allen Lane, 2011), Roger Bernstein and Wilbert van Vree, chose we found the book overly rationalistic Osborne’s Civilization: a New History Brett Bowden’s book The Empire in terms of its overall arguments, but of the Western World (London: Cape, of Civilization: The Evolution of an nonetheless often rich in terms of its 2006), and Jeffrey Sachs’s The Price Imperial Idea (Chicago: University of analysis – particularly in its illustration of Civilization 1HZ Issue No.37 July 2012 Figurations 3 EXWDOVRLQ¿QLWHO\PRUHSHGHVWULDQLQ In retrospect, it seems obvious that >&ROOHFWHG:RUNVYRO@ [YLLL (QJOLVKWKDQWKHROG7KHERDUGRIWKH no one could fully understand Elias’s SS,6%1 Norbert Elias Foundation nevertheless discussion without being familiar with ¼ decided that this volume of the WKHGUDZLQJVWKHPVHOYHV Collected Works should be issued not The new edition will include a ‘missing as the familiar The Civilising Process Besides carefully checking and chapter’ on Marx and another shorter but under the new title On the Process correcting the text, the editors have text on ‘The sociogenesis of the of Civilisation7KLVLVDPRUHOLWHUDO inserted numerous explanatory notes concept of “society” as the subject translation of Über den Prozess der and cross-references to other parts of matter of sociology’ never previously Zivilisation but not, we hope, more (OLDV¶VZULWLQJV7KHH[SODQDWRU\QRWHV published in English, both translated for SHGHVWULDQ«7KHUHDUHWZRJRRG are especially important in the long WKLVHGLWLRQE\(GPXQG-HSKFRWW7KH UHDVRQVIRUDPHQGLQJ>WKHWLWOH@ discussion of state-formation processes, translation of the original book made by both of them related to widespread where Elias seems to have written on Grace Morrissey and Stephen Mennell misunderstandings to which the original the assumption that every reader would LQWKHHDUO\ V WKH¿UVWWUDQVODWLRQ English title has apparently given rise come equipped with a comprehensive into English of Elias’s major works) )LUVWWKHHPSKDVLVLQWKHRULJLQDO detailed knowledge of European has been substantially revised in the German title is – and should also be in medieval and early modern history, light of later translations – especially by English – on the word ‘process’, not on HVSHFLDOO\RI)UDQFHDQG*HUPDQ\ (GPXQG-HSKFRWW±RIRWKHUZRUNV WKHZRUGµFLYLOLVDWLRQ¶RUµFLYLOLVLQJ¶ That assumption was probably never Second, by extension, some readers realistic, and has long since to be Buy online: Copies of any of the KDYHLQIHUUHGIURPWKHGH¿QLWHDUWLFOH safe for later generations of English volumes of the Collected Works may in The Civilising Process that Elias VSHDNLQJUHDGHUV7KHQRWHVZLOOKHOSWR be purchased online at a 20 per cent believed that a singular civilising navigate the reader through the maze of discount, post free, directly from the process had occurred uniquely in the the distant past and among unfamiliar SXEOLVKHUVDWZZZXFGSUHVVLH course of the last half-millennium or monarchs (many with very similar VRRI(XURSHDQKLVWRU\«%XW(OLDV QDPHV made many asides both here and in his IN THE MEDIA later writings to stress that civilising One other new feature, among many, processes were found in other parts of QHHGVWREHPHQWLRQHG(OLDVRIWHQKLG the world and in other periods of human away important discussions in extended VRFLDOGHYHORSPHQW+HUHSHDWHGO\ notes which, tucked away at the end of asserted that other instances of the book in tiny print, were probably civilising processes could be observed UDUHO\VWXGLHGE\WKHH[KDXVWHGUHDGHU in other continents and other periods In line with modern practice, these throughout the development of human have now been transformed into VRFLHW\¶ appendices (and sometimes themselves DQQRWDWHG 7KHUHDUHDVPDQ\DV Of course the editors are not trying of these new appendices, for which to eliminate the familiar concept of WKHHGLWRUVKDYHFUHDWHGWLWOHV7KH\ ‘civilising process’, but they have include, for example: ‘On feudalism in tried to use ‘a civilising process’ or Europe and Asia’; ‘On law and political ‘civilising processes’, avoiding ‘the development’; ‘On the Chinese form FLYLOLVLQJSURFHVV¶LQWKHVLQJXODU of centralisation’; ‘On British national On 23 February 2012, the Dutch character’; ‘On the strength of tensions, weekly De Groene Amsterdammer One of the most immediately striking population pressure and international published a long and memorable features of the new edition is that, economics in hegemonic states’; LQWHUYLHZZLWK-RRS RI¿FLDOO\-RKDQ SUREDEO\IRUWKH¿UVWWLPHLQDQ\ ‘Some American authors on habits and *RXGVEORP,WWRXFKHVXSRQKLV language, it includes full-colour fears’; ‘On ideology, Realpolitik, and nihilism, his sociology, his memoirs plates of all of the 14 pictures from $PHULFDQVRFLRORJ\¶(YHQLQFOXGHGLV and the ‘omni-absence’ of his wife the Mittelalterliches Hausbuch to a long note that Elias dictated for the 0DULD which Elias refers in his celebrated DutchWUDQVODWLRQRIWKHERRN discussion of ‘Scenes from the life of As a student, Joop read Menno ter DNQLJKW¶7KHUDWKHUDVWRQLVKLQJIDFW The next volume to be published, in Braak, a Dutch literary critic, who that Elias did refer to as many as 14 of July 2012, will be: introduced him to Nietzsche and the pictures we owe to Patrick Murphy, to nihilism – a nagging awareness who meticulously worked through Norbert Elias, What is Sociology?, that all knowledge is enveloped in the text alongside reproductions translated by Grace Morrissey, Stephen XQFHUWDLQW\,WEHFDPHWKHVRXUFH of the Hausbuch3DWULFNKDVDOVR Mennell and Edmund Jephcott, edited of many aphorisms – ‘Am I in contributed an appendix, written with by Artur Bogner, Katie Liston and doubt?’ and ‘Nothing is best’ – and 6WHSKHQ0HQQHOODERXWWKHGUDZLQJV Stephen Mennell (Dublin: UCD Press, the motivation for writing his book 4 Figurations Issue No.37 July 2012 Nihilism and Culture ,WV the paralysing implications of the interview, for example in his answer opening sentence reads: ‘The reason QLKLOLVWLFSUREOHPDWLF:KLOH7HU to the question ‘What events do you for writing this book was – how could Braak chose literature, Goudsblom, think to be characteristic of the past LWEHRWKHUZLVH"±SHUVRQDO¶1LHW]VFKH without altogether giving up his literary decade?’ Goudsblom answers in terms and Norbert Elias feature as two major ambitions, chose sociology, never to his of simultaneously occurring trends LQWHOOHFWXDOJXLGLQJVWDUV$OWKRXJK UHJUHW and countertrends, and points to the Elias’s conception of the sociologist invasions in Iraq and Afghanistan as as a hunter of myths is inconceivable Elias’s work was welcomed by him examples of the twentieth-century without the scepticism and lack of as presenting an equivalent to the trend of continuing imperialism with respect for authority that go into the theory of evolution for sociology: its countertrend, the irrevocable failure making of any nihilist, Elias had ineluctable, and without any competing RIWKHVHXQGHUWDNLQJV+HDOVRSRLQWV little patience for nihilism, whereas alternative with comparably wide to the continued increase of wealth for Nietzsche (and Goudsblom), the VFRSH7KHUHKDYHEHHQLQWHUHVWLQJ and welfare in this decade and the ‘nihilist problematic’ is an intrinsic and complements – as for example the DFFRPSDQ\LQJULVHRI¿QDQFLDODQG unsuppressible feature of European work of Pierre Bourdieu – but these ecological debts: advances toward FXOWXUH$V*RXGVEORPDOUHDG\ were perfectly compatible with VXSHULRUSRZHUDQGSRZHUOHVVQHVV acknowledged in the preface to the (OLDV¶VWKHRU\DQGDSSURDFK:LWKRXW original Dutch edition of the book, his Elias’s developmental perspective When asked why Elias’s work wife Maria helped him make nihilism on societies and people, spanning was never fully accepted among LQFUHDVLQJO\LQWRDQDFDGHPLFSUREOHP many centuries, he would not have sociologists, he answers: because it In the interview he adds that the work GDUHGWRGHDOZLWKWRSLFVOLNH¿UH goes against some of the established and the example of Norbert Elias DQGWLPH7KH(OLDVLDQSHUVSHFWLYHLV pillars or cornerstones of the discipline, also contributed to his ‘overcoming’ casually demonstrated throughout the for example against the Popperian PRGHORIIDOVL¿DEOHK\SRWKHVHVDQG against some more generally accepted assumptions about the nature of human EHLQJV)RUXQGHUVWDQGLQJSHRSOH Elias points to their relations of power and dependency in social networks, which goes against the dominant homo clausus image of people as single and DXWRQRPRXVLQGLYLGXDOV7KHVHWZR objections against Elias, supplemented by the tendency to reduce history to fashions, biographies and anecdotes, KDYHEHHQFRQVHTXHQWLDO For a few years, Joop has been writing PHPRLUV+HRQFHVDLG µWKHUHLVQR subject I know more about than about myself’, so now, by writing a text only about himself, presenting a picture that he is prepared to call wholly truthful and without using one word too many, -RRSKDVIRXQGKLVGLUHFWLRQKRPH7KH death of Maria, his wife, on 31 March 2009, after the preceding discovery of a far advanced cancer (summer 2007) are for him by far the most important moments of the decade, he says, and WKHQDGGV µZLWKRXWDGRXEW¶7KH interviewers report: ‘A sob is heard, EXWLWGRHVQRWOHDGWRIXUWKHUHPRWLRQV It remains stuck in his inner self, thus bending it somewhat into a primal VRXQG:HZDLWDZKLOHDQGWKHQ FRQWLQXH>-RRS @³2QWKHRWKHUKDQG, DPDVWRQLVKHGKRZOLWWOHKDVFKDQJHG (…) whether this is pleasant, or on the FRQWUDU\YHU\VDG,GRQ¶WNQRZ,WLV Issue No.37 July 2012 Figurations 5 WZRIROGVHHPVVRPHZKDWXQUHDO « Children should be left for as long FRQIRUPLQJWRWKHVRFLDOVWDQGDUG$QG %XWWKHQZKDW>LV"@QRW"´µ as possible in the belief that an angel RQHIHHOVKRZLQ¿QLWHO\GLI¿FXOWLWLV EULQJVEDELHV,IJLUOVVKRXOGODWHUDVN for the educator himself to overcome Interview by Daan Heerma van Voss how children come into the world, they the resistance of the shame and and Daniël van der Meer, De Groene should be told that the good Lord gives embarrassment which surround this Amsterdammer)HEUXDU\SS WKHPRWKHUKHUFKLOG«µ This note proposes that the idea of a ‘An aura of embarrassment…surrounds (OLDVXQGHUVWRRGWKHVLJQL¿FDQFHRIWKH taboo on shame can help us understand WKLVVSKHUHRIOLIH(YHQDPRQJDGXOWV denial of shame to mean that shame a peculiarity in the response to Norbert LWLVUHIHUUHGWRRI¿FLDOO\RQO\ZLWK goes underground, leading to behaviour (OLDV¶VNH\VWXG\ 7KHLQGH[ FDXWLRQDQGFLUFXPORFXWLRQV$QG that is outside of awareness: of The Civilizing Process (1994 with children, particularly girls, such English edition) lists hundreds of things are, as far as possible, not ‘Neither “rational” motives nor pages on which the words ‘shame’, UHIHUUHGWRDWDOO9RQ5DXPHUJLYHV practical reasons primarily determined ‘embarrassment’ or closely related no reason why one ought not to speak this attitude, but rather the shame WHUPVDSSHDU$OWKRXJKWKHUHDUHRYHU RILWZLWKFKLOGUHQ+HFRXOGKDYH [Scham@RIDGXOWVWKHPVHOYHVZKLFK a hundred citations on Google Scholar, said it is desirable to preserve the KDGEHFRPHFRPSXOVLYH,WZDVWKH only two persons have responded to spiritual purity of girls for as long as social prohibitions and resistances Elias’s shame themes (Scheff 1992, SRVVLEOH%XWHYHQWKLVUHDVRQLVRQO\ within themselves…that made them /LQGQHU another expression of how far the NHHSVLOHQW gradual submergence of these impulses Elias: How Shame Became in shame and embarrassment has Like many other passages, this one Unspeakable and Invisible DGYDQFHGE\WKLVWLPH implies not only to a taboo on shame, The way in which shame is kept secret but the actual mechanisms by which it in modern societies was demonstrated (OLDVUDLVHVDKRVWRIVLJQL¿FDQW LVWUDQVPLWWHGDQGPDLQWDLQHG in Elias’s monumental study The questions about this excerpt, Civilizing Process (1939: 1978; concerning its motivation and its This study has been widely proclaimed 2YHUWKHODVW¿YH HIIHFWV+LVDQDO\VLVJRHVWRZKDW DVDPDVWHUSLHFH+RZHYHUWKRVH hundreds of years of European history, may be a key causal chain in modern who praise and/or use it seldom allow Elias analysed etiquette and education civilisation: denial of shame and of the WKDWVKDPHWKHPHVDUHFHQWUDO(OLDV PDQXDOVLQ¿YHGLIIHUHQWODQJXDJHV threatened social bonds that both cause seems to have noticed, because in his 7ZRRIKLVNH\¿QGLQJVLQYROYHVKDPH DQGUHÀHFWWKDWGHQLDO VXEVHTXHQWZRUNVKDPHGLVDSSHDUHG $VSK\VLFDOSXQLVKPHQWGHFUHDVHG This tactic is particularly striking in shame became increasingly dominant ‘Considered rationally, the problem his study The Germans 2QHRI DVWKHPDLQDJHQWRIVRFLDOFRQWURO FRQIURQWLQJKLP>YRQ5DXPHU@ the central ideas is that the spell that As shame became more prevalent, it seems unsolved, and what he says Hitler cast over the German people DOVREHFDPHDOPRVWLQYLVLEOH DSSHDUVFRQWUDGLFWRU\+HGRHVQRW arose out of shame: they felt humiliated explain how and when the young girl E\ORVLQJWKH)LUVW:RUOG:DU+LWOHU 7KHIROORZLQJH[FHUSWJLYHVWKHÀDYRXU should be made to understand what helped them hide their shame behind RI(OLDV¶VVWXG\,WLVIURPDQLQHWHHQWK LVKDSSHQLQJDQGZLOOKDSSHQWRKHU DQJHUDQGDJJUHVVLRQ%XWLQSURSRVLQJ century work (von Raumer, 1857) that The primary concern is the necessity this theory, Elias did not use the word advises mothers how to answer the of instilling ‘modesty’ (that is, feelings VKDPH1HLWKHUVKDPHQRUKXPLOLDWLRQ sexual questions their daughters ask: of shame, fear, embarrassment, and DSSHDUVLQWKHLQGH[ guilt) or, more precisely, behaviour 6 Figurations Issue No.37 July 2012 The index refers to the shame thesis ELIAS ON THE ISLE KILMINSTER: indirectly, under the heading of OF MAN THE PRONOUN MODEL ‘the experience of defeat’, which itself is found under the heading of Russell Kelly (University of Trier) Someone casually observed that the µGHFLYLOL]LQJSURFHVVHV¶SS±7KH writes to say that during a recent visit to idea of the ‘personal pronoun model’, word humiliation occurs only once, on the Isle of Man (for the TT motorcycle of which Elias makes use in several SDJH7KHLQGLUHFWQHVVPD\KDYH races) he visited the Manx Museum works including What is Sociology?, been the reason that I missed his thesis and asked about any references to can also be found in the writings of about the rise of Hitler, even though my Norbert Elias and his stay on the island (GPXQG+XVVHUO6RZHUDQWKLVSDVW ERRNPDGHWKHVDPHSRLQW when interned as an ‘enemy alien’ in Richard Kilminster, our resident expert 7KHOLEUDULDQVLQIRUPHGKLP RQ±DQGVFRXUJHRI±SKLORVRSK\ Perhaps Elias would not be surprised that a project is currently underway Richard replied as follows: that his shame thesis was little noticed, concerning the internees and their and the subsequent events, since he experiences, because more and more of A discussion of the personal pronouns foresaw in The Civilising Process the them are visiting the Isle of Man before can indeed be found in Husserl, in a disappearance of shame in modern DJHRYHUFRPHVWKHP lateish work, the Cartesian Meditations VRFLHWLHV of 1931 [English translation, The They hold an archive of records of the +DJXH0DUWLQXV1LMKRII @ Tom Scheff LQWHUQHHV)RU1RUEHUW(OLDVWKHHQWU\ 7KDWPXFK,NQHZWRR,DOVRNQHZ Santa Barbara reads: that Mannheim discusses them as ‘perspectives’ in one of his unpublished References ‘Central Camp, Douglas and essays from the mid-20s (see David Elias, Norbert (1939) Über den +XWFKLQVRQ&DPS'RXJODV .HWWOHUHWDOHGVThe Structures of Prozess der Zivilisation (Basel: Haus He was head of the People’s University Thinking (London: Routledge, 1982) in ]XP)DONHQ (QJOLVKWUDQVODWLRQThe WKHFDPSXQLYHUVLW\ way reminiscent of Norbert’s remarks Civilising Process (Oxford: Blackwell, He was released through the in What is Sociology? That was the 1978–82); new editions 1994, 2000; LQWHUYHQWLRQRI&36QRZZULWHUDQG WLPHZKHQ1(ZDVKLVµXQRI¿FLDO¶ revised edition, On the Process of VFLHQWLVW DVVLVWDQW,UHIHUUHGWRWKLVLQP\ERRN Civilisation (Dublin: UCD Press, 2012 From Barbed Wire on the Isle of Man [Norbert Elias: Post-Philosophical >&ROOHFWHG:RUNVYRO@ % $VRFLRORJLVW+HZURWHD Sociology /RQGRQ 5RXWOHGJH @ (OLDV1RUEHUW > @ The ballad “The poor Jakob” for the second S Germans &DPEULGJH 3ROLW\ production of the revue What a Life!, Kaufman, Gershon (1989) The performed by internees at Central Camp A little Googling revealed that Wilhelm Psychology of Shame 1HZ Issue No.37 July 2012 Figurations 7 OBITUARY Willfried Spohn (6 December 1944–16 January 2012) consistently strove to promote both QDWLRQDOO\DQGLQWHUQDWLRQDOO\7HOOLQJO\ for this endeavour, Willfried Spohn was a co-founder of the International Sociological Association’s Thematic Group 02 Historical and Comparative Sociology, and its President from 2007 XQWLO6LQFHWKHXSJUDGHRI7* to Working Group status in 2010, which involved the incorporation of members of the Figurational Sociology Ad Hoc Group, Willfried Spohn had been WG02 Vice-President and an active and enthusiastic member, organiser, and dedicated participant in WG02 activities, in which he promoted the :LOOIULHG6SRKQZDVDERUQDFDGHPLF the University of Washington, the study of Latin America, East Central Luckily for those who knew him, he University of Pennsylvania, and Europe, and the Middle East, as well was also of the right kind – one is Columbia University, as well as at as the historical and comparative almost tempted to say, the rare kind: the Catholic University of Eichstätt- VRFLRORJ\RIUHOLJLRQV extremely erudite with an insatiable ,QJROVWDGW*HUPDQ\+HZDVDOVRD We were looking forward to several curiosity about and love of knowledge, Fellow at the Institute for Advanced sessions Willfried had organised along yet unbelievably modest about the vast Study, Princeton, NJ, a Senior Fellow these lines at the IIS Congress in knowledge he himself had accumulated; at the European University Institute Delhi in February of this year and at intellectually generous and giving, in Florence, Italy, and an Alumnus the upcoming ISA Forum in Buenos always open to new ideas, but serious of the Institute for Advanced Study Aires in August, as well as to several and careful in carrying them out and LQ.RQVWDQ])URPWRKH book and research projects that he had putting them to paper; a thoughtful was the Research Director of the EU started or still wanted to embark upon and committed teacher and guide to project EURONAT (together with in his new position at the University of students and younger colleagues, for Bo Strath and Anna Triandafyllidou) :URFáDZ:HGHHSO\PRXUQWKHORVVRI whom he never grudged time and at the European University Viadrina, a dear friend and a most accomplished UHVRXUFHV DFRQFHUQHGDQGUHÀHFWLYH )UDQNIXUW2GHU)URP RQZDUG and admirable scholar and colleague, researcher, for whom institutions of he was Research Coordinator for the all the while knowing that we are higher education were not only places project Europeanisation, Multiple all the richer for the knowledge and of learning, but also sites of complex Modernities and Collective Identities the wisdom, the kindness and the power relations in which one should – Religion, Nation and Ethnicity in generosity, the dedication and the carefully ponder one’s own role, an Enlarging Europe at the Georg- perseverance he bequeathed to his LPSDFWDQGFRQWULEXWLRQ $XJXVW8QLYHUVLW\*|WWLQJHQ,Q friends and family and to his academic Willfried Spohn had obtained his he became Professor of Economic and FRPPXQLW\$VORQJDVZHVWLOOSDUWDNH habilitation in Sociology at the Free Social Sciences at the Willy Brandt of the intellectual legacy he left to us 8QLYHUVLW\RI%HUOLQLQ %HWZHHQ Centre for German and European and impart it to others, he will not have 1989 and 2005, he held numerous 6WXGLHVRIWKH8QLYHUVLW\RI:URFáDZ GLHG positions as a Visiting Professor of International and European Studies From the beginning of his career, 0DQXHOD%RDWFă and of Social and Political Science at Willfried Spohn was committed to Free University, Berlin several universities in the USA, among historical and comparative sociology Secretary/Treasurer ZKLFKZHUH1HZ 8 Figurations Issue No.37 July 2012 REVIEW ESSAY: WKHLUUDULW\*UDSSOLQJZLWKWKHDELOLW\ The book starts with a text on social ‘UNCONSCIOUS to write, and to infuse his books with SV\FKRORJ\,WLVDQLQWURGXFWLRQWRD MEMORIES’: A CASE liveliness, appear as a main theme in university extra-mural course taught OF PSYCHOANALYTIC (OLDV¶VLQWHOOHFWXDOOLIH in 1950, which still is very much CONCEPT FORMATION ZRUWKUHDGLQJ7KHUHDGHUFDQFOHDUO\ Then there emerged his ‘telephone perceive the strong pedagogical thrust Hans-Peter Waldhoff fantasy’: I speak into the phone ever DQGWKHPHWKRGLFDOLQÀXHQFHVRI*URXS University of Hanover more insistently, he says, but a voice $QDO\VLV7RJDLQDQLQLWLDOVHQVHRI at the other end of the line constantly social psychology, the teacher suggests A review essay on Norbert Elias, repeats, ‘I cannot hear you, please analysing the class setting together Au-delà de Freud: sociologie, speak louder!’ In old age, Elias added – that is, the relations among the psychologie, psychanalyse. that the voice told him that he could group of students and the relationship 3DULV /D'pFRXYHUWH now be heard a bit – an illuminating EHWZHHQWKHPDQGWKHWHDFKHU+H remark by an author who for decades also adds a third perspective of an No other great sociological thinker never ceased to address the main assumed researcher observing from the has gone to such great lengths to themes of his life, at ever new levels, in RXWVLGH+HDVNVKRZWKLVFRQVWHOODWLRQ incorporate the human psyche into ever new variations and combinations, might evolve and how it might affect the core of his theory than Norbert and who continued to work, albeit WKHSURFHVVRIWHDFKLQJDQGOHDUQLQJ (OLDV0RUHRYHUKHKDVVXFFHVVIXOO\ almost blind, until the last hour of his Individuals, he points out, cannot be portrayed an image of the human being \HDUOLIH understood in the abstract but only so deeply rooted in a conception of the within the actual relationship patterns human being as existing in the plural Among the last passionate efforts in RIZKLFKWKH\DUHSDUW7KLVDOUHDG\ that in the depth of the most personal KLVOLIHZHUHKLVH[SOLFLWUHÀHFWLRQVRQ holds true, Elias argues, in the vein of and inner self of each and every person )UHXG¶VFRQFHSWRIVRFLHW\LQ Winnicott, for the newly born infant, DUHUHÀHFWHGWKHPDQ\SHRSOHDQG This was more than half a century who does not exist as such but only in groups we have been exposed to and after implicitly grappling with and UHODWLRQWRLWVIDWKHUDQGPRWKHU)DPLO\ WKDWKDYHPDGHDQLPSDFWRQXV attempting to go beyond Freud as a structure, in turn, is affected by the social theorist in On the Process of structure of the society to which the Elias’s sociology of knowledge and his Civilisation – an attempt that had IDPLO\EHORQJV rare contributions to Group Analysis, ODUJHO\JRQHXQQRWLFHG(OLDVKDGVHQW among the founders of which he must )UHXGDFRS\RIWKH¿UVWYROXPHRI Elias paints a picture of human beings be counted, also clearly show how the the book in 1936, a logical step in this as part of a biological process of personality structures of researchers, light, and kept the postcard received evolution in which historical processes as group members and individuals, LQUHVSRQVHDOOKLVOLIH7KHIUDJPHQWV are embedded and which, in turn, inevitably interact with the objects of that he left us of this explicitly revived provide the setting for individual WKHLUWKRXJKWSURFHVVDQGUHVHDUFK,QD lifelong conversation with Freud GHYHORSPHQW6RFLDOSV\FKRORJ\FDQ VHFWLRQZULWWHQLQFROODERUDWLRQZLWK6 were known, yet publishing them was be an academic endeavour capable +)RXONHV(OLDVSRLQWVRXWWKDWSHRSOH FRQVLGHUHGDQLPSRVVLEOHWDVN of assembling the separate aspects of vary considerably in their ability to human development into a coherent DSSO\WKLVLQVLJKWWRWKHPVHOYHV The French scholar Marc Joly SLFWXUH&KDQJHVLQVRFLDOQRUPV succeeded in assembling the fragments affect human beings not only on the In his work, Elias himself only rarely LQWRDFRKHUHQWWH[W+H±DQG%HUQDUG outer surface but also in the innermost affords the reader a glimpse into his Lahire, who contributes an insightful core of their individual personality RZQHPRWLRQDOOLIH+LVSRHPVLQ postscript to the is book – heard the by shaping their emotions, which are Gedichte und Sprüche (volume 18 of voice of an important author, a voice DOZD\VGLUHFWHGDWUHOHYDQWRWKHUV the Gesammelte Schriften published that was becoming weaker toward the by Suhrkamp) and Autobiographisches end of his life, and have made it audible Because of limited space, I will skip und Interviews YRO DOVRYRO DQGSODFHGLWLQFRQWH[W the articles ‘Sociology and psychiatry’ 17 of the English Collected Works, and ‘The civilising of parents’, which Interviews and Autobiographical 7KLVERRNZHRZHWRWKHP7KH are both readily available in English 5HÀHFWLRQV forthcoming) are among main body of the text is preceded and German, though they not only the few instances where he does in chronological order by a few merit more attention but also blend RIIHUVXFKDJOLPSVH+HUHPXOWLSOH previously unpublished or little read LQZHOOZLWKWKHFRQFHSWRIWKHERRN traumatisation becomes apparent: in short pieces of Elias’s work that all From the article ‘Civilization and early childhood, as a soldier in World revolve around his key methodological psychosomatics’, I should like to War I, when faced with the murder of issue of concern, namely a synthesis of cite only the following observation his mother at Auschwitz, and the death sociology and psychology capable of typical of Elias’s critical conceptual of his psychoanalyst after the Second bridging the disciplinary divide in their thinking: ‘The notion of “environment” :RUOG:DU7KHVHELWVRISHUVRQDO FRQFHSWLRQVRIWKHKXPDQEHLQJ typically reveals a peculiar kind information explain the reasons for RILQQRFHQWHJRFHQWULVP,WUHIHUV Issue No.37 July 2012 Figurations 9 simply to that which surrounds us example of Freud’s time: in a society critique and extraordinarily precise RUPH,QWKHKLVWRULFDOVHTXHQFHRI where women married at the age of 25 analysis of the terms and concepts conceptions of man, this term seems and were prohibited to have premarital XVHGLQWKHKXPDQVFLHQFHV SS to correspond to the geocentric sex, there was a gap of ten years ± 0RUHRYHUWKLVWH[WIUDJPHQW conception of the physical universe between biological and social maturity, demonstrates that psychoanalysis not awaiting the Copernican revolution’ between burgeoning sexual desires and only inspired Elias’s own strategy of S P\WUDQVODWLRQ 7KLVUHPDUN VRFLDOSHUPLVVLRQWRVDWLVI\WKHP,Q conceptualisation but his conceptual LQFLGHQWDOO\WHVWL¿HVWRWKHIDFWWKDW such conditions, Elias concludes, we DQDO\VHVDVZHOO Elias was implicitly preoccupied with can indeed speak of a sharp opposition a revolutionary project involving much between human nature and human First of all, Elias frequently emphasises more than a mere synthesis of various VRFLHW\ S the extraordinary advances in thought KXPDQVFLHQFHV Freudian conceptualisation has brought In principle, however, human drives WRDOOWKHKXPDQVFLHQFHV)RULQVWDQFH /HWXVQRZWXUQWRKLV)UHXGHVVD\ require social regulation as they come ‘By introducing the concept “libido”, Here, 40 years later, Elias again to biological maturity, in the same way he has enriched our vocabulary WDNHVXSWKHWKRXJKWMXVWFLWHG,WLV that the human vocal apparatus must by providing us with a symbolic inadequate and anthropocentric, he be given structure in the course of UHSUHVHQWDWLRQEHWWHUVXLWHGWRUHÀHFW argues, to describe nature as a human maturing by learning a socially given the variability of drive energy and drive HQYLURQPHQW S ,QVWHDGLWLV language for it to be able to perform its REMHFWV¶ P\WUDQVODWLRQS ,WPD\ more appropriate to view humanity as IXQFWLRQVLQFRPPXQLFDWLRQ S come as a surprise that this appreciation representing a more complex level of This example demonstrates that the also extends to Freud’s concept of a integration in the process of physical traditional dogma of the dichotomy of GHDWKGULYH+HUH(OLDVFUHGLWV)UHXG and biological evolution and hence in nature and culture can hardly pass as an with at least drawing attention to a itself constituting a part of what we call DGHTXDWHDFFRXQWRIUHDOLW\ problem largely ignored by all other QDWXUH WKHRULHV S Although Freud made occasional Elias criticises the following dualism in statements to the effect that all His scrutiny of Freud’s concept of Freudian theory: Freud, Elias maintains, psychology is ultimately social the unconscious, in my view, is an perceived drives as a manifestation psychology, according to Elias he H[HPSODU\H[HUFLVHLQ(OLDVLDQDQDO\VLV of nature as opposed to the process of underestimated the extent to which, It is easy to become caught up in controlling drives, referred to as culture in the course of social evolution, ZRUGVVD\V(OLDV S 7KHXVH or civilisation, which he viewed as a the functions of human self-control of the adjective ‘unconscious’ as a NLQGRIDQWLQDWXUHDUWL¿FLDOO\IRUFHG have changed in relation to the drives noun (‘the unconscious’), for instance, XSRQXV+XPDQEHLQJVKRZHYHUDUH FRQWUROOHG,QVSLWHRIFRQWLQXDOFKDQJH suggests that a property of an object predisposed to acquire self-control by in these functions, the founding father – say an unconscious memory – is an WKHLUYHU\QDWXUH&XOWXUHRUFLYLOLVDWLRQ of psychoanalysis conceptualised them REMHFWLQLWVRZQULJKW S 7KLV ZRXOGEHLPSRVVLEOHRWKHUZLVH as if they were static objects, as in the isolation of the property from the object Embedding human drives within social FDVHRIWKHHJRVXSHUHJRDQG,LGHDO bearing it is of interest when reading mechanisms for regulating behaviour (OLDV¶VGHVFULSWLRQRIQHXURWLFV\VWHPV does not just involve the aspect of the In spite of Freud’s innovativeness Elias describes neurotic systems, in a LQGLYLGXDOVXEPLWWLQJWRVRFLHW\(OLDV¶V in other respects, Elias sees Freud’s sense, as frozen, entrapped memories research gives a clear account of how treatment of nature and culture or which, in an isolated manner, as an individual self-control constitutes a civilisation as two scarcely reconcilable autonomous force as it were, compel precondition of the individual’s relative ZRUOGVDVUHÀHFWLQJDPLQGVHWLQWKH people to feel and act in certain ways autonomy, both in relation to itself and grip of a still prevailing traditional in the absence of any awareness that WRRWKHUV S paradigm directing our attention WKHVHPHPRULHVH[LVW3V\FKRDQDO\WLF more to separate events than to the therapy, he argues, seeks to reintegrate Of course, there exist repressive forms connections between them, more these unconscious memories into the of self-regulation, but they are not the to antagonisms than to what unites mainstream of the personality, or, in RQO\RUXQLYHUVDOIRUP S (OLDV things, more to analyses of detail than other words, seeks to overcome the suspects that Freud’s therapeutically WRV\QWKHVHV+HVXVSHFWVWKDW)UHXG¶V LVRODWLRQRIWKHVHPHPRULHV motivated interest in neuroses may training in the natural sciences led him have led him to devote greater attention to focus more on constants as opposed If we consider these aspects conjointly, to those compulsive mechanisms WRFKDQJH we may conclude that this facet of self-regulation causing mental of Freud’s theory, concerning the disorders, as opposed to instances To conclude, I would like to highlight analysis of unconscious memories, of self-control where this is not the one of the main themes of the text, their isolation, and the mechanisms FDVH S 7RLOOXVWUDWHWKHRIWHQ which Bernard Lahire compares to involved in splitting them off, is pathological type of socially coerced Ludwig Wittgenstein’s diagnoses reproduced at the conceptual level, in self-regulation, Elias cites an obvious of pathologies of language: Elias’s that Freud separates the property of 10 Figurations Issue No.37 July 2012 being ‘unconscious’ from the memories characteristics of Elias’s theory of S WKLVPD\VRXQGOLNHKHUHV\ LQTXHVWLRQDQGUHL¿HVWKHPDVµWKH civilisation, in terms of its roots in When he writes elsewhere that the unconscious’ into an object in its own the sociology of knowledge and in overall picture of the make-up of ULJKW,QKLVFRQFHSWXDODQDO\VLV(OLDV SV\FKRDQDO\VLVEHFRPHFOHDUO\YLVLEOH human personality Freud left us is in turn, attempts to reintegrate the The insight given here in Elias’s own nevertheless the most realistic account property of unconsciousness by adding (in this case) psychoanalytic strategy WKDWZHKDYHWKHQWKLVWHVWL¿HVWRWKH the adjective ‘unconscious’ to the of concept formation is especially fact that Elias’s research programme concept of unconscious memories to YDOXDEOHDQGRSHQVD¿HOGRILQTXLU\ ‘beyond Freud’ is the attempt to revise underscore the fact that there exists no into his general strategy of concept the Freudian conceptual apparatus in ‘unconscious’ apart from that which is IRUPDWLRQ WKHVSLULWRISV\FKRDQDO\VLVLWVHOI XQFRQVFLRXV When Elias says that we can describe Note: A shorter version of this article In this never completed discussion the insights gained from psychoanalysis was published in German in the journal of Freud’s concept, the main without reference to ‘the unconscious’ PsycheLQ$SULO RECENT BOOKS AND ARTICLES John Goodwin and Jason Hughes, GLVFXVVLRQRIWKHKLVWRULFDOVLJQL¿FDQFH emergent dynamic to the relationship ‘Ilya Neustadt, Norbert Elias, and of the Department of Sociology at the between Neustadt and Elias, one which, the Leicester Department: personal University of Leicester (a University we argue, undergirds the development correspondence and the history of largely ignored in ‘standard histories’ of of sociology at Leicester and the sociology in Britain’, British Journal of the subject) at a formative phase in the distinctive character of the intellectual Sociology SS± development of the discipline within climate that prevailed there during WKH8.7KHFRUUHVSRQGHQFHGUDZQ WKH V7KHSDSHUFRQFOXGHVZLWK ABSTRACT: The central aims of this paper upon in the paper is between Norbert a consideration of whether it was a are: (1) to explore the utility of using Elias and Ilya Neustadt between 1962 collapse of this dynamic that led to personal correspondence as a source and 1964 when Elias was Professor of a total breakdown in the relationship of data for sociological investigations Sociology at the University of Ghana between Neustadt and Elias, and by into the history of sociology in the UK; and Ilya Neustadt was Professor of extension, an important phase in the (2) in relation to this undertaking, to Sociology and Head of the Sociology H[SDQVLRQRIVRFLRORJ\DW/HLFHVWHU DGYDQFHWKHEHJLQQLQJVRID¿JXUDWLRQDO Department at the University of analysis of epistolary forms; and (3), /HLFHVWHU)URPDQDQDO\VLVRIWKLV to provide an empirically-grounded correspondence, we elucidate an Issue No.37 July 2012 Figurations 11 Mirjam Stuij and Ruud Stokvis, instrumental uses of art and culture, the less unequal and their bonds more ‘Habitusvorming: over de socialisatie text then attempts to (re)position the intimate, while decreasing numbers of van sportgedrag’ [Habitus formation: power of artists in what seems to be educators kept clinging to obedience, On the socialisation of sports RWKHUSRZHUV changing toward teaching their children EHKDYLRXU@Sociologie SS± and how to steer themselves by According to Pierre Bourdieu, Cas Wouters, De Jeugd van adjusting their course in trusting and habitus is an important foundation Tegenwoordig: Emancipatie van Liefde LQWLPDWHZD\V for behaviour and, because of its en Lust sinds 1880 [Young People IRUPDWLRQZLWKLQDVSHFL¿FVRFLDO Today: Emancipation of Love and Lust Sexological research and youth studies milieu, it underlies substantial since 1880], (Netherlands: Atheneum- serve as major resources for recounting GLIIHUHQFHVEHWZHHQVRFLDOJURXSV 3RODN 9DQ*HQQHS SS how exactly young people’s sexual However, Bourdieu hardly explains development has changed, and how KRZDKDELWXVLVDFTXLUHG%DVHGRQ In his book, Cas Wouters focuses on WKLV¿WVLQWRWKHIUDPHZRUNRIEURDGHU Bernstein’s elaboration of the context in the profound changes in young people VRFLDOGHYHORSPHQWVLQVH[XDOLW\7KH ZKLFKWKHDFTXLVLWLRQRIJURXSVSHFL¿F ever since the 1880s, which include the book contains consecutive series of practices and principles takes place, changing relations between the classes, vivid examples, thus providing an this article explains how young children JHQHUDWLRQVDQGWKHVH[HV7KHUHDFWLRQ animated image of ‘young people in different socio-economic groups to these changes often made such a today!’ since the 1880s and of their REWDLQDKDELWXVUHODWHGWRVSRUW,WLV song and dance about it, or caused a ZD\VRIFRSLQJZLWKORYHDQGOXVW concluded that differences in behaviour moral panic, and yet the relationship 7KHSLFWXUHVRIWKLV¿OPDUHUH¿QHGE\ arise largely out of differences between parents and children became continuously comparing different social regarding the impact of socialising DJHQWV:LWKLQWKHKLJKVRFLRHFRQRPLF status group, the nuclear family has an explicit and regulating impact on exercise behaviour and the moral TXDOL¿FDWLRQRIVSRUWV,QWKHORZHU VWDWXVJURXSWKHKDELWXVLVLQÀXHQFHG by the extended family, the school and peers, resulting in a less strict order and a broader range of adaptable sports DFWLYLWLHV Idalina Conde, ‘Art and Power: Contemporary Figurations’, CIES e-Working Papers SS ± ABSTRACT: In this text the issue of art and power is approached from a perspective that addresses, in particular, the symbolical- essential- power of DUWLVWVWKURXJKWKHLULGHDVDVDXWKRUV A double perspective that relates not RQO\WRWKHFUHDWLYH¿JXUDWLRQRIWKRVH ideas, illustrated here by some of the art works presented at the last Documenta in Kassel (2007), one of the pinnacles of contemporary art, but also to the FKHVVERDUGRISRZHUVLQDUWLVWLFVSDFHV $¿JXUDWLRQRILQWHUGHSHQGHQFLHVWKDW raises questions about artistic power and its sovereignty and fragilities in WKHFRQWHPSRUDU\VLWXDWLRQ,QWKH light of the various forms of hetero- determination and hetero-legitimisation of art that today subordinates this kind RIUHÀHFWLRQWRWKHUROHRILWVSDWURQDJH intermediation, markets, media coverage and reception, among other 12 Figurations Issue No.37 July 2012 classes, by comparing generations of FDSLWDO'DLO\YLVLEOHFRQWDFWZLWKWKH applying the sociological ideas of Elias immigrants – the new Dutch – with the police – what would now be called to questions of urban development in established, the old Dutch, and also by ‘neighbourhood policing’ – had been WKH%UXVVHOVUHJLRQ drawing comparisons between the USA QHHGHGLQ3DULVIRUDORQJWLPH)URP DQG(XURSH various angles and levels, this study John Warne Monroe, ‘Surface The author shows how changes in examines changes in the relations tensions: empire, Parisian modernism, the balances of power and control between police and society in the and “authenticity” in African sculpture, can explain why the trends of VHFRQGKDOIRIWKHQLQHWHHQWKFHQWXU\ 1917–39’, American Historical Review informalisation and sexualisation have Between 1854 and 1914, the civil SS± been more pervasive in the Netherlands policeman became keeper of the peace than in many other western countries, and was gradually incorporated into ‘The Western aesthetic category and why the Americans have come to the social, political and mental life of of primitive art came into its own ODJEHKLQG Paris, although that did not mean the in Paris in the early decades of the HQGRIGLVSXWHVDQGFRQIURQWDWLRQV WZHQWLHWKFHQWXU\¶±WKH¿UVWVHQWHQFHRI Jerome Braun, To Break Our Chains: The same period witnessed the gradual Monroe’s article is enough to indicate Social Cohesiveness and Modern professionalisation of the new police its relevance to anyone interested in Democracy (Leiden: Brill, 2010) force, the creation of a new kind of Norbert Elias’s enthusiasm for more integrated public order – but $IULFDQDUW ,QKLVIRUHZRUG&)UHG$OIRUG which produced new types of resistance (University of Maryland) writes: and marginalisation, as well as the 6LQLãD0DOHãHYLüDQG.HYLQ emergence of a new perception of Ryanµ7KHGLV¿JXUHGRQWRORJ\RI Most books on psychoanalysis and ‘everyday urban life’ and fear of ¿JXUDWLRQDOVRFLRORJ\ 1RUEHUW(OLDV politics are either mostly about µKRROLJDQV¶7KLVSURFHVVDIIHFWHGWKH and the question of violence’, Critical psychoanalysis, with a little bit of whole territory of France, but seemed Sociology SS SXEOLVKHG SROLWLFV2UERRNVDERXWSROLWLFV WR¿QGSDUWLFXODUO\LQWHQVHH[SUHVVLRQ online before subsequent hard-copy employing a very stereotypical LQWKHFDSLWDO,QGHHGLQWKHWZHQWLHWK SXEOLFDWLRQ and one-dimensional view of century Republic, the keeper of the SV\FKRDQDO\VLV%UDXQ¶VERRNLVTXLWH peace in Paris became a symbol, both ABSTRACT This article scrutinises remarkable, and from one perspective French and international, of what came 1RUEHUW(OLDV¶V¿JXUDWLRQDOVRFLRORJ\ is not really about psychoanalysis to be seen as a new and ambiguous by focusing on its ontological DQGSROLWLFVDWDOO5DWKHULWLVDERRN µXUEDQFLYLOLVDWLRQ¶ IRXQGDWLRQV7KHDQDO\WLFDOVSRWOLJKWLV about the evolution of modern life on the inherent tension between Elias’s by one who is deeply informed and Florence Delmotte, ‘La sociologie stance of normative neutrality and thoughtful about politics, culture, historique de Norbert Elias’, Cahiers detachment, his naturalistic ontology, and DQGSV\FKRDQDO\VLV«,I,ZHUHWR philosophiques SS± an unyielding commitment to directional compare it to any recent work, the most GHYHORSPHQW:HVKRZKRZ(OLDV¶V obvious would be Christopher Lasch’s This essay forms part of an issue of social theory does not stand apart, as an The Culture of Narcissism2QO\ the journal devoted to the topic of H[WHUQDOREVHUYHUIURPWKH¿JXUDWLRQV %UDXQ¶VKLVWRULFDOVZHHSLVEURDGHU FRVPRSROLWDQLVP'HOPRWWHGLVFXVVHV LWVHHNVWRH[SODLQ2QWKHFRQWUDU\LW Psychoanalysis and politics are not so the formation of states and nations in constitutes its own outside, and this much woven together as they are part of the course of civilising processes, and has consequences when it comes to an intellectual background to a critique asks whether, ‘after the nation state’, explaining the ‘dark sides’ of the present, of contemporary western culture at a the emotional resistance of national and in particular the social sources of YXOQHUDEOHSRLQW habitus is the principal obstacle to RUJDQL]HGYLROHQFHLQPRGHUQLW\,WLV further integration and interdependence, our contention that Elias’s ontology Quentin Deluermoz, Policiers dans la LQ(XURSHDQGHOVHZKHUH incorrectly posits violence as the ville: La construction d’un ordre public absolute Other of civilisation, so that his à Paris, 1854–1914 (Paris: Publications Florence Delmotte and Ludivine theory of the ‘civilising process’ fails to GHOD6RUERQQH Damay, ‘Les schemas directeurs, adequately account for the persistence nouvel outil du development urbain and proliferation of warfare in the In 2010 Quentin Deluermoz was the à Bruxelles interdépendances entre PRGHUQDJH editor the special issue of the journal acteurs et processus de construction Vingtième siècle devoted to ‘Norbert G¶HVSDFHV¶LQ Issue No.37 July 2012 Figurations 13 social theorists addressing the issues which took place in the late modernity, Bruce Mazlish, ‘Social bonding, RIYLROHQFHDQGZDUIDUH,QSDUWLFXODU simply is not the true in the case of globalization, and humanity’, New since sociology as a variant of social death and dying within the domestic Global Studies $UWLFOH SS theory became institutionalised at ¿JXUDWLRQ7KHDXWKRUVVWURQJO\DUJXH ± the end of the nineteenth century, the here that in Elias’s terms, the domestic mainstreams of social theory neglected ¿JXUDWLRQPLJKWQRWQHFHVVDULO\OLQN ABSTRACT: What bonds hold human warfare and its implications for the the private and the public spheres, society together? How have these VRFLDORUJDQL]DWLRQRIKXPDQOLIH7KH but at the same time creates the space bonds evolved over time, and where do purpose of this article is to analyse this where social relations become a type of they extend in an era of globalisation? tacit assumption on which sociology ‘liminal contact zone’ which through This article shows how certain types constructs its theory of society and extension interweaves with others, of social bonds continue to dominate state, and to discuss some of the HVSHFLDOO\LQUHJDUGRIGHDWK human civilization, explores some of problematic implications including the strains they are under at the present DQDOPRVWQHJOHFWRIZDUIDUH)LUVW 6WHSKHQ4XLOOH\ ‘Entropy, the time, and suggests a few ways they may ,IRFXVRQWKHFRQ¿JXUDWLRQRIVWDWH anthroposphere and the ecology of adapt to the global future by acquiring a and society in the writings of selected civilization: An essay on the problem of more precise connection to the concept classical sociologists (Marx, Durkheim, “liberalism in one village” in the long RI+XPDQLW\ DQG:HEHU 7KHVHFRQGSDUWWDNHVD view’, The Sociological Review 59:1 closer look at the implications of those SS± Linda Williams, ‘Visualizing FRQ¿JXUDWLRQVIRUVWXGLHVRIVRFLDO subjectivity: social theory and the role RUGHUDQGVRFLDOWUDQVIRUPDWLRQ3DUW ABSTRACT: In his theory of civilizing of art as metaphor of self and habitus’, three examines more recent sociological processes Elias drew attention, Thesis Eleven SS± theories (represented by Michael Mann) albeit obliquely, to the interweaving and their attempts to include the state connections between ecological, ABSTRACT: This paper considers the and its external relations in the studies biological, social and psychological way social theorists draw on affective RIVRFLDOWUDQVIRUPDWLRQSURFHVVHV processes operating at a variety of imagery to convey ideas about complex QHVWHGWHPSRUDOVFDOHV(OXFLGDWLQJD social processes such as the formation 7KLV¿UVWHGLWLRQRIEmbedded also series of fundamental propositions, this RIVXEMHFWLYLW\ZLWKLQDJLYHQKDELWXV includes article by Len Seabrooke on SDSHULVDQDWWHPSW¿UVWO\WRH[SOLFDWH The argument focuses on discussions ‘Embeddedness in Historical Sociology the parameters of the general theory of of art in the work of Elias and Foucault and International Political Economy’ humanity that is implicit in his concrete to question whether imagery, and SS± historical studies, and secondly to particularly imagery drawn from art, apply this theory to linked problems of serves to simplify more complex Liz Stanley and Sue Wise, global sustainability and cosmopolitan processes of reasoning, or whether ‘The domestication of death: the GHPRFUDF\%XLOGLQJRQ*RXGVEORP¶V the image can be understood as a type sequestration thesis and domestic concept of the ‘anthroposphere’, I of conceptual consolidation of an ¿JXUDWLRQ¶Sociology SS argue that the long-term process of argument rather than a means to simply ± social development have always been LOOXVWUDWHRUDXJPHQWLW7KHSDSHUDOVR V\QRQ\PRXVZLWKDVSHFL¿FSURFHVV raises the question of whether art is a This article by Stanley and Wise RIHFRORJLFDOWUDQVIRUPDWLRQGH¿QHG more complex form of social agency encompasses the essence and E\µWURSKLFH[SDQVLRQ¶7KLV(OLDVLDQ than it was sometimes understood to be LPSRUWDQFHRIWKH¿JXUDWLRQDO approach to human ecology is then used LQLWVRULJLQDOVRFLDOFRQWH[W VRFLRORJ\7KHDXWKRUV¶WKRURXJK to explore the global environmental Linda Williams has also more recently analysis of sequestration thesis and the ecological crisis through the lens of the written a chapter on ‘Norbert Elias and GRPHVWLF¿JXUDWLRQRIGHDWKE\PHDQV longue durée)URPWKLVSHUVSHFWLYH the Question of the Non-human World’ of comparative historical evidence of I question liberal assumptions about in the book edited by Axel Goodbody rituals surrounding death and dying, WKHQDWXUDODI¿QLW\EHWZHHQGHPRFUDF\ and Kate Rigby called Ecocritical leaves the previous theorising on death, and ecological sustainability and, more Theory: New European Approaches modernity and sequestration quite VSHFL¿FDOO\WKHSRVVLELOLW\RIµORZ 8QLYHUVLW\RI9LUJLQLD3UHVV OLPLWHGDQGVRPHZKDWGLVDSSRLQWLQJ HQHUJ\FRVPRSROLWDQLVP¶'HYHORSLQJ Contrary to what the likes of Giddens LGHDVKLQWHGDWE\&+:DGGLQJWRQLQ 6WHSKHQ'XQQH, ‘The politics of argued before, the ways people the 1960s and more recently by James ¿JXUDWLRQDOVRFLRORJ\¶Sociological perceive and deal with death it is not as Lovelock, I argue that any long-term Review SS± if they are some sort of disconnected future for complex, cosmopolitan monads, but as members of very tight societies and a sustainable ABSTRACT: Figurational sociology is LQWHUSHUVRQDOUHODWLRQVKLSV:KDW rapprochement between the biosphere so often said to distance itself from Stanley and Wise show here is that and the anthroposphere, will depend WKHSROLWLFDOLVVXHVRIWKHGD\:KLOVW claims that sequestration and complete on the emergence of technologies of this is certainly true with regards to expansion of civil-institutional in µWURSKLFGHWDFKPHQW¶ the present day, it in no way follows regulating the private aspects of life WKDW¿JXUDWLRQDOVRFLRORJ\VHHNVWR 14 Figurations Issue No.37 July 2012 GLVWDQFHLWVHOIIURPSROLWLFVDVVXFK2Q and the theorisation of processes of has provoked considerable debate (see the contrary, as will be shown within DFDGHPLFUHFRJQLWLRQ,WLVIXOORI KWWS FMUFRVXHGXUHVHDUFKSURMHFWVKYG this paper, politics is and always has new information, whether about the Ahsup/html EHHQDFHQWUDOFRQFHUQIRU¿JXUDWLRQDO ‘accursed’ fate of Über den Prozess VRFLRORJLVWV7KLVSROLWLFDOFRQFHUQ der Zivilisation or about the career 7KH¿UVWRI6SLHUHQEXUJ¶VDUWLFOHVOLVWHG however, is an exclusively long-term its author faced in London and then above was intended as a contribution FRQFHUQ ¿JXUDWLRQDOVRFLRORJ\ /HLFHVWHU to a forum on Roth’s book in Crimes, purposively postpones present political In order to explain the reception of Histoires & Sociétés,QWKHHYHQWRWKHU engagement for the sake of developing Elias’s work in France, Marc Joly deals contributors failed to deliver, so this is DVXI¿FLHQWO\GHWDFKHGVRFLRORJ\ ¿QDOO\ZLWKWKHSDVVLRQDWHGHEDWHV a simple two-person exchange between that would eventually facilitate in within French sociology in the 1960s 6SLHUHQEXUJDQG5RWK2QHFHQWUDO the delivery of effective practical and in the AnnalesLQWKH V,QVXP point is that Roth places great weight DQGSROLWLFDOPHDVXUHV7KLVSDSHU he makes us see unknown or repressed on levels of ‘trust in government’ as an discusses the stakes involved in, as parts of the history of the humanities H[SODQDWLRQIRUWKHÀXFWXDWLRQVLQDQG well as the reasoning behind, the and social sciences in the twentieth overall downward long-term trend in DVVLJQPHQWRIVXFKDSODFHWRSROLWLFV century, and to reconsider how such a murder in the USA, and he sees this as It gestures towards two distinct and KLVWRU\LVWREHZULWWHQ undermining Elias’s theory of civilising separate concepts of social control SURFHVVHV$FFHSWLQJPXFKRI5RWK¶V WKDWH[LVWZLWKLQ¿JXUDWLRQDOVRFLRORJ\ 3LHWHU6SLHUHQEXUJ, ‘American empirical evidence (with some queries), and then proceeds to offer a critical homicide: what does the evidence mean Spierenburg contends that it does not consideration of the consequences for theories of violence and society?’, in fact run counter to Elias’s argument, that can be derived from any temporal Crime, Histoire & Sociétés/Crime, and points out that Roth falls into the demarcation of the political done History & Societies SS common trap of failing to distinguish RQWKHLUEDVLV7KHSDSHUXOWLPDWHO\ ± between the ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ meanings VXJJHVWVWKDW¿JXUDWLRQDOVRFLRORJ\¶V RIWKHFRQFHSWµFLYLOLVDWLRQ¶ position on politics raises a series 5DQGROSK5RWKµ Issue No.37 July 2012 Figurations 15 substantially about Elias, in The By today’s stricter standards, this 'RQ]HORWDQG5REHUW0XFKHPEOHG7KH Sociological Review7KHMRXUQDO essay would be regarded as straight present exploration attempts to extend which was published between 1908 and plagiarism, and we would bawl out DQGFRUUHFWWKHPDSVWKH\KDYHGUDZQ 1952, was Britain’s longest established D¿UVW\HDUVWXGHQWIRUJLYLQJVXFK journal of sociology, and the precursor PLQLPDODWWULEXWLRQ%XWWKHµVRFLDO of the still prospering Sociological standards of behaviour’ in academic BOOKS RECEIVED Review µQHZVHULHV¶ writing, as in so much else, were different then; and the fact that Patrick These two important books will The essay begins by framing the Gordon Walker is known to have be reviewed in the next issue of relationship between history and attempted after the war to secure the Figurations (and/or in the journal sociology – and psychology – as publication of Elias’s magnum opus Human Figurations): follows: in English translation is an important PLWLJDWLQJFRQVLGHUDWLRQ7KHHVVD\LV Farhad Dalal, Thought Paralysis: The ‘It is certain, unless modern RIFRQVLGHUDEOHKLVWRULFDOLQWHUHVW Virtues of Discrimination (London: psychoanalysis is all a mistake, that .DUQDF [SS,6%1 the dreams of the men and women Arthur Mitzman, ‘The civilizing of the Middle Ages must have been offensive: mentalities, high culture, and quite different from the dreams of individual psyches’, Journal of Social 6WHSKHQ9HUWLJDQV, The Sociology PRGHUQPHQDQGZRPHQ6RPXVW History SS± of Terrorism: People, Places and WKHFDXVHVRIODXJKWHU7KHUHODWLRQV Prospects (Abingdon: Routledge, between the individual and society To describe the proper relationship [LYSS,6%1 have entirely altered in the interval; the between ego and id, Sigmund Freud 57266 8 (paperback; also available in social pressures and, in consequence, once used the metaphor of rider and KDUGEDFNDQGDVDQHERRN the individual conscience, have horse; the rational ego must master altered; repressions, sublimations, and direct the instinctual id-drives in compensations, defence-mechanisms, the same way that the rider masters and the rest of it have changed DQGGLUHFWVKLVKRUVH&RPSDUDEOH WKHLUQDWXUH7KHFHQWUDOTXHVWLRQ prescriptions for well being can be to be investigated here is why these found centuries before Freud, among things have come about, what social WKHLGHRORJLVWVRIDEVROXWLVP,Q instruments have been used to bring 1621, Père Maldonnat, in a dictum them about? What fresh knowledge can charged with implications for the we gain from this about the true nature social relations and mentalities of of society and its evolution? This is the past three and a half centuries, HVVHQWLDOO\DQHZSUREOHP0XFKOLJKW argued that the will should command has been thrown upon it by the desires ‘like the father his son, the Freud and Adler … Other writers pedagogue his disciple, the lord his who have made various illuminating VHUYDQWDQGWKHNLQJKLVVXEMHFWV¶7R suggestions on this understand the historical connection problem are: Groethuysen, Veblen, between psychology and society 0DU[DQG(QJHOV/HZLV0XPIRUG$ implicit in this ancient wisdom, we (%XUWW:KLWHKHDG%RUNHQDXDQG shall have to invoke the shade of Max Max Weber have given many valuable Weber as well as that of the creator of KLQWV0DQQKHLPDQGKLVSXSLO1RUEHUW psychoanalysis, and consider what can Elias have tackled the problem directly be said on Père Maldonnat’s subject ZLWKPRUHLPSRUWDQWUHVXOWV$V\HW from the triple standpoints of the however, no attempt has been made to history of mentalities, cultural history systematize and organise the treatment DQGSV\FKRKLVWRU\7KHDQDO\VLVEDVHG RIWKLVSUREOHPDVDZKROH¶ on these standpoints, then, examines the relation between, on the one hand, Gordon Walker then goes on to raise the normative psychology of secular questions about social causality and religious authorities in the period (including materialism) and about since the Renaissance and, on the Renaissance science, before settling other, traditional popular mentalities, down to an extended discussion of a relation I shall call the ‘civilizing what he calls ‘new civilised behaviour’ RIIHQVLYH¶$VVXFKLWVFRXWVRXWD SS± 7KHHQWLUHHVVD\LVEXLOW scholarly no-man’s land, adjacent to the upon Eliasian themes, despite the fact historical imperium, which has been that the mention of Elias just quoted earlier subject to the wondering gaze of LVWKHVROHUHIHUHQFHWRKLPE\QDPH Norbert Elias, Michel Foucault, Jacques 16 Figurations Issue No.37 July 2012 -DVRQ+XJKHVÀQDOO\´ORVHVµLWZLWK&DV:RXWHUV Looking puzzled Kilminster looking puzzled In the Pub RECENT CONFERENCES Norbert Elias and Figurational Sociology: Prospects for the Future. Copenhagen, 2–4 April 2012 )RUWKH¿UVWWLPHHYHUDPDMRU international conference on Norbert Elias was held in Denmark, supported by the Department of Political Science and the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen and WKH1RUEHUW(OLDV)RXQGDWLRQ7KH conference was organised by Lars Bo Kaspersen, University of Copenhagen and Norman Gabriel, University of 3O\PRXWK1RUPDQLVDYLVLWLQJOHFWXUHU The Organisers at the Department of Sociology, University of Copenhagen where he has been teaching Elias’s process sociology IRU0$VWXGHQWVIRUWKHODVW\HDUV Issue No.37 July 2012 Figurations 17 The focus of the three-day conference KLJKVFKRROV,QWKHHYHQLQJZHPRYHG RQHHQFRXQWHUHGKRZ¿JXUDWLRQDO ZDVRQWKHGHYHORSPHQWRI¿JXUDWLRQDO to the Monk Cellar under the oldest part sociology is extensively used as an sociology in relation to other of University of Copenhagen (founded DQDO\WLFDOWRROZLWKLQYDULRXV¿HOGV GLVFLSOLQHV,Qµ:KDWLV6RFLRORJ\"¶ LQ +HUHDKXJHEXIIHWZDVVHUYHG which can be drawn upon and applied Elias argued that sociology needed (including wonderful venison) but LQKLJKO\GLYHUVHFRQWH[WV,QSDUWLFXODU to develop new ways of ‘thinking’ disappointingly only 40 bottles of wine the keynote speech by Professor about its relationship with other were consumed! Days two and three Stephanie Ernst on a process-oriented GLVFLSOLQHV6LQFHWKDWWLPHZHKDYH took place at the Social Science Faculty methodology was fascinating, and a seen a rapid expansion of many new Campus placed between the Botanical great inspiration on how to go about academic disciplines, yet there has not *DUGHQDQGWKHODNHV7KHFRQIHUHQFH RSHUDWLRQDOLVLQJUHVHDUFK2YHUDOOWKH EHHQVXI¿FLHQWWLPHWRFRQVLGHUWKH dinner the second night took place at many presentations demonstrated the theoretical implications of what this the atmospheric Actor house – a part of ODUJHSRWHQWLDORI¿JXUDWLRQDOVRFLRORJ\ would mean for the future development the Royal Theatre – near the harbour to integrate a range of disciplinary RID¿JXUDWLRQDOVRFLRORJ\ IURQW:HDOOHQMR\HGWKHIRXUFRXUVH SHUVSHFWLYHV meal with spectacular views across the Even with most Danes on holiday KDUERXU 7KH¿UVWGD\,KDGWKHSOHDVXUHRI an overwhelming number of people JXLGLQJWKHSUHVHQWHUVWRWKHYHQXH signed up, approximately 95 enrolled We would like to thank very much Walking though the old city of and about 80 participants turned up for the support from the Department Copenhagen, talking with people WKHWKUHHGD\VRIWKHFRQIHUHQFH7KHUH of Political Science, Department whose names are referenced in my were participants from 18 different of Sociology and the Norbert Elias curriculum, needless to say, was quite countries and we were delighted to )RXQGDWLRQ$VSHFLDOWKDQNVWR DQH[SHULHQFH$VDVWXGHQWRQHLV welcome many newcomers to the WKHZRQGHUIXOO\HI¿FLHQWVWXGHQW constantly reminded of the importance (OLDVLDQSHUVSHFWLYH7KHFRQIHUHQFH assistants, under the leadership of RIPRYLQJIURPWKHRU\WRSUDFWLFH7KLV brought together sociologists, together Kathrine Nistrup, who helped to make can sometimes be challenging to fully with other important and relevant the conference such a success, and to grasp in one’s everyday studies when cognate disciplines – such as history, Administrative Secretary Mette Cruse working with abstract and weighty political science and economics – to 6NRXZKRPDGHLWDOOSRVVLEOH WKHRULHV$WWKHFRQIHUHQFHKRZHYHU explore attempts that integrate different this process was illuminated and I was GLVFLSOLQDU\SHUVSHFWLYHV.H\QRWH Lars Bo Kaspersen and Norman captivated by the presenters ability to speakers included Richard Kilminster Gabriel apply Elias’ framework to different (University of Leeds), Abram de Swaan NLQGVRIUHVHDUFK2EVHUYLQJWKH (University of Amsterdam), Stephen And a student’s eye view of the participants enthusiastically scribble Mennell (University College Dublin), conference: down each other’s comments and Andrew Linklater (Aberystwyth suggestions I experienced the multiple University), Stefanie Ernst (Universität I had the great opportunity to take functions of the conference; both as Münster), Stephen Quilley (Keele part in the three-day Norbert Elias a producer of new knowledge and University), Johan Goudsblom conference on development of tester of theory but also as a platform (University of Amsterdam), and Søren ¿JXUDWLRQDOVRFLRORJ\LQUHODWLRQWR for networking and exchanging 1DJE¡O $DUKXV8QLYHUVLW\ %HVLGHV other disciplines, which gathered H[SHULHQFHV$WWHQGLQJWKHFRQIHUHQFH these eight keynote speakers we had 14 much of the international Elias created incentive for my own work and panel sessions! An impressive number FRPPXQLW\LQ&RSHQKDJHQ7KH restored sense in the sometimes abstract of presentations (approximately 60) GLVFXVVLRQVVSDQQHGQXPHURXV¿HOGV VWXG\LQJRIVRFLDOWKHRULVWVOLNH(OLDV offered a variety of thought-provoking with paper presenters and keynote SHUVSHFWLYHVRQ¿JXUDWLRQDOVRFLRORJ\ speakers passionately elaborating Although such may be the case for Such was the enthusiasm that some of their Elias- inspired research within many schools; I ended the conference the participants at the last sessions on for example environmental politics, with an impression of a strong Thursday afternoon had to be dragged education, history, organisational theoretical community that possibly DZD\IURPWKHLUFRQYHUVDWLRQV studies, immigration, and public feels ignored in some regards, but at VSDFHV3URIHVVRU/DUV%R.DVSHUVHQ the same time expresses a closeness Despite the cold weather we all welcomed the participants on behalf of DQGLQWLPDF\WKDWFDQEHGLI¿FXOWWR HQMR\HGZRQGHUIXO&RSHQKDJHQ7KH Copenhagen University (Department EHFRPHDSDUWRI,REVHUYHGDFOHDU ¿UVWGD\RIWKHFRQIHUHQFHYHQXH of Political Science/Sociology) and hierarchy among the participants, and took place in Vartov – a part of the WKH1RUEHUW(OLDV)RXQGDWLRQ7KH within the community there seemed Danish Free Church associated with three days were organised around to be one way of interpreting Elias, the very important nineteenth-century plenary sessions with keynote speeches and preferably buying into the whole 'DQLVKSULHVW1)6*UXQGWYLJ and parallel sessions that centred on SDFNDJH7KXVSUHVHQWHUVZHUHTXLFNO\ He contributed to the Danish liberal YDULRXVVRFLDOWKHPHV$VDVWXGHQW corrected or opposed if their arguments democratic constitution of 1849, Danish one mainly comes across Elias on a were not in accordance with the agreed nationalism, education and the Folk theoretical level, but at the conference LQWHUSUHWDWLRQ$VDVRFLRORJ\VWXGHQW 18 Figurations Issue No.37 July 2012 experiencing an academic community about the transformation of Eastern FORTHCOMING up close was indeed fascinating and (XURSH CONFERENCES quite educative, and even though I ¿QGD¿JXUDWLRQDOSHUVSHFWLYHKLJKO\ One session was devoted to aspects of XIV Civilizing Processes intriguing and relevant for much the history of sociology, with Adrian International Symposium research; I wonder if and how an Gallistl (Trier) comparing Elias with Elias perspective combined with other Erich Fromm, Steve Loyal (UCD) This will take place in Dourados, Mato WKHRUHWLFDOSHUVSHFWLYHVPD\EHQH¿WWKH talking about Elias’s interpretation of Grosso in Brazil on 19-24 November FRPPXQLW\DVDZKROH Marx, and Johan Goudsblom advancing 7KHGHDGOLQHIRUDEVWUDFWVLV the proposition that ‘All sociology is the 23 July and the second edition of Being a student I have not yet had the KLVWRULFDOVRFLRORJ\¶ the conference newsletter plus other opportunity to participate in many important information can be accessed FRQIHUHQFHVRIDVLPLODUPDJQLWXGH 7KH¿QDOVHVVLRQZDVDURXQGWDEOH at KWWS ZZZXIJGJUXSRHOLDVFRP These usually have high fees, may only on the theme of the Germans and welcome paper presenters – or I’ve long-term violence, the contributors VLPSO\EHHQRFFXSLHGZLWKP\VWXGLHV being Bernard Lacroix (Nanterre), Eric Habitus, War and Sadly, I don’t think my situation is Dunning (Leicester) and Abram de Civilisation XQLTXH7KLVLVXQIRUWXQDWHDVP\ 6ZDDQ $PVWHUGDP experiences from the Elias conference Department of Sociology, University of are indispensable and ended up shaping Graz. WKHIRXQGDWLRQIRUP\EDFKHORU¶VWKHVLV Reinventing Norbert Elias: Graz 25–27 April 2013 I therefore emphasise the importance For an Open Sociology RIVWXGHQWSDUWLFLSDWLRQLQVXFKHYHQWV &DOOIRUSDSHUV Taking part in and experiencing organized by Amsterdam Institute for ongoing academic discussions and Social Science Research, 22–23 June This conference is to honour Helmut debates are important to bridge theory 2012 Kuzmics on the occasion of his with practice, but it is also inspiring retirement from his chair at Graz and motivational, and it provides the A report of the conference will be LQ0D\2YHUWKHODVWGHFDGH student with a broader social context SXEOLVKHGLQRXUQH[WLVVXH Helmut’s work has centred especially IRUKLVKHUHGXFDWLRQDODELOLWLHV on matters relating to war, but over the course of his career he has written Kathrine Nistrup Madsen on a wide range of topics, including BScSoc Student national habitus, the arts, mass media Copenhagen Business School DQGFXOWXUHDQGVRFLRORJLFDOWKHRU\ We shall welcome papers, or proposals New Issues in Process for conference sessions, on the Sociology ZKROHUDQJHRIKLVZRUN,QWKHDUHD VSHFL¿FDOO\RIZDUDQGWKHEHOOLFRVH Wissenschafts Zentrum Berlin, 5 side of social life, we already envisage December 2011 several sessions: The original intention was that this Proposed sessions centred on war one-day conference, organised by Steve Loyal and Reinhard Blomert, Today, interstate wars merely would focus on economics and the disappeared or transformed into FXUUHQW¿QDQFLDOFULVLV,QGHHG6WHSKHQ terrorism or into violent inner-states Mennell, Reinhard Blomert and antagonisms of far remotes ‘failed Abram de Swaan did discuss precisely VWDWHV¶+RZHYHUWKLVGRHVQRWPHDQ WKDWGXULQJRQHVHVVLRQ$VXVXDODW that war (and the potential of it) has lost ¿JXUDWLRQDOJDWKHULQJVKRZHYHUPRUH LWVVLJQL¿FDQFHIRUPRGHUQVRFLHWLHV people than expected wished to attend, Twenty years after the breakdown of DQGWKHUDQJHRIWRSLFVZDVZLGHQHG the Soviet Union, more states than ever Jan Haut (Saarbrücken) reported on are acquiring nuclear weapons, a new his recent research on the Elias papers kind of arms race with conventional in the Deutsches Lietraturarchiv, weapons can be observed in parts of Marbach, especially on research on the world, and popular culture is still VSRUW7DEHD'|UIHOW0DWKH\ -HQD obsessed with war (as in movies and spoke about her study of Elias’s poetry FRPSXWHUJDPHV DQGLWVUHOHYDQFHWRKLVZLGHUZULWLQJV And Marta Bucholc (Warsaw) talked Issue No.37 July 2012 Figurations 19 Merely 30 years after Elias’s Humana Rituals of civilizing interstate CONTRIBUTIONS TO Conditio it seems that sociology violence FIGURATIONS LWVHOIKDVQRWFKDQJHGIXQGDPHQWDOO\ The mass media focus on sport, Following Saint Simon, sociology is the Eurovision Song Contest, beauty The next issue of Figurations will be still concerned with the paradigm of FRQWHVWVWKH1REHOSUL]HV¿OPSUL]HV PDLOHGLQ-DQXDU\1HZVDQGQRWHV PRGHUQVRFLHW\DVDSHDFHIXOSODFH and many other cultural contests as should be sent by 1 November 2012 Thus, the aim of the conference is to ULYDOULHVEHWZHHQQDWLRQV'RHVPRGHUQ to the Editors at confront sociological thinking with civilisation develop certain sets of ¿JXUDWLRQV#QRUEHUWHOLDVIRXQGDWLRQQO ZDUDQGLWVVRFLDOFRQVHTXHQFHV7KH rituals helping to constrain violent conference is open for proposals impulses on the international arena? Editor: Stephen Mennell IRUSOHQDU\VHVVLRQV7KHIROORZLQJ Does IR (International Relations) Editorial Address: School of Sociology, VHVVLRQVDUHSURSRVHGE\WKHRUJDQL]HUV neglect these contests as important 8QLYHUVLW\&ROOHJH'XEOLQ%HO¿HOG institutions? 'XEOLQ,UHODQG 1 War and its effect on societies in a 7HO very long-term perspective The conference will consist of plenary )D[ What are the effects of war on sessions with speakers and panels of historical civilisations as well as on GLVFXVVDQWV Associate Editor: Dr Katie Liston, School the modern world? In order to explain of Sports Studies, University of Ulster, societies better, are there war-orientated The deadline for establishing further Newtownabbey, County Antrim, Northern points of view in sociology that are able SOHQDU\VHVVLRQVLV2FWREHU ,UHODQG%74%3KRQH successfully to rival functionalism or 90368539; economic-centred paradigms? The deadline for registering for the )D[ conference, and for submitting abstracts Nuclear deterrence: Making unsafe RISDSHUVLV-DQXDU\ Managing Editor (Dublin): places safer or even more insecure? %DUEDUD*yUQLFND 8&' (PDLO Political science has much to say To register, please send an abstract ¿JXUDWLRQV#QRUEHUWHOLDVIRXQGDWLRQQO about the proliferation of nuclear to following email address: GLHWHU ZHDSRQV+RZHYHUZKDWLVWKH UHLFKHU#XQLJUD]DW Honorary Assistant Editors: Florence sociological perspective? How are 'HOPRWWH%UXVVHOV )UHQFK 6R¿D*DVSDU aggressive impulses and hate towards Madrid (Spanish and Portuguese); Heike others regulated differently in the Hammer, Stuttgart (German); Tatiana nuclear age? Is such a kind of weaponry Savoia Landini, São Paulo (Spanish and constitutive for modern societies? 3RUWXJXHVH/DWLQ$PHULFD War, emotions and ‘habitus’ Contributions should preferably be In order to understand war crimes e-mailed to the Editor in the form of MS and atrocities, a micro-level perspective :RUG GRFRUGRF[ 5LFK7H[W UWI RQWKHEDWWOH¿HOGXQFRYHUVWKH SODLQWH[W W[W RU2SHQ2I¿FH7H[W RGW fundamental importance of emotions ¿OHV'RQRWXVHHPEHGGHGIRRWQRWHV OLNHIHDUFRPUDGHVKLSHWF(PRWLRQV +DUGFRS\LVDFFHSWHGUHOXFWDQWO\ are also central to understand public Photographs should be submitted in JPEG opinion and its judgement about a ‘just’ IRUPDW ZDU,QWKLVVHVVLRQWKHLQWHUFRQQHFWLRQ of war, emotions and ‘habitus’ will be © 2012, Norbert Elias Stichting, GLVFXVVHG --9LRWWDVWUDDW-0$PVWHUGDP 1HWKHUODQGV War, the economic system and ¿QDQFLDOPDUNHWV Graphic Design and DTP: What are the relations between $QQHWWHYDQGH6OXLVDQW#[VDOOQO capitalism, tighter nets of economic Printed by MultiCopy, Weesperstraat 65, interdependencies and war? Does the $PVWHUGDP1HWKHUODQGV current world economic crisis lead towards situations that will make war Figurations is distributed free of charge between great powers more likely? on request to researchers, institutes or Or is it true that the conditions are OLEUDULHV7REHDGGHGWRWKHPDLOLQJOLVW very different from the word of the please write to the Secretary, Norbert Elias 1930s? 6WLFKWLQJ--9LRWWDVWUDDW-0 Amsterdam, Netherlands HPDLO HOLDV#SODQHWQO 20 Figurations Issue No.37 July 2012