Palgrave Studies on Norbert Elias

Palgrave Studies on Norbert Elias Series Editor Tatiana Savoia Landini Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo Sao Paulo, Brazil Despite growing, widespread appreciation for Norbert Elias’s theoretical approach—often called fgurational or processual sociology—there exist only a few, specialized publications on Eliasian social theory, and as of yet, no academic book series. Palgrave Studies on Norbert Elias will therefore fll a signifcant gap in the market, appealing to fgurationalists across disciplines: Elias’s social theory is used not only in Sociology, but also Sports, Psychoanalysis/ Psychology and Social Psychology, Education, Criminology, International Relations, History, Humanities (Arts, Music, and Cultural Studies), Political Science, and Public Health. Respecting the multi-disciplinary Eliasian tradition, the series is open to receiving contributions from academics outside of Sociology departments, so long as the research is grounded on Elias’s approach. Publications, which shall range from Palgrave Pivots to edited collections, can be expected to explore sports, habits and manners, criminology, violence, group relations, music and musicians, theory and methods, civilizing and decivilizing processes, involvement and detachment in social sciences, formation of the modern state, power relations, and the many dozens of other topics to which Eliasian theory has been applied. More information about this series at http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/16153 Florence Delmotte • Barbara Górnicka Editors Norbert Elias in Troubled Times Figurational Approaches to the Problems of the Twenty-First Century Editors Florence Delmotte Barbara Górnicka Fund for Scientifc Research School of Sociology (F.R.S.-FNRS) University College Dublin Brussels, Belgium Dublin, Ireland Université Saint-Louis – Bruxelles Brussels, Belgium ISSN 2662-3102 ISSN 2662-3110 (electronic) Palgrave Studies on Norbert Elias ISBN 978-3-030-74992-7 ISBN 978-3-030-74993-4 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-74993-4 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2021 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifcally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microflms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifc statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affliations. This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG. The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland To Billie, Esther and Marcel And To Maja, Iga, Nina and Mikołaj FOREWORD Elias in Troubled Times is a great contribution to the understanding of contemporaneity, of political and social matters that affect a diversity of groups and countries in the twenty-frst century. Based on papers presented at the 2018 Elias Conference, held at Université Saint-Louis (Brussels, Belgium), this book shows not only great advancement in terms of understanding of our troubled times but, concurrently, also important improvements in the knowledge and use of Elias’s concepts and theoretical approach. Paraphrasing Goudsblom (1997), by reading these chapters, one can easily notice important gains for the understanding of contemporary society from ‘learning to think with Elias’. The book is organized in three parts: Classical Themes renewed; Violence and faces of war; Established–outsiders relations and habitus issues. Texts in the frst section bring concepts and themes classical to fgurational sociology to the understanding of contemporary societies: func- tional democratization, double-binds, individualization, global interdependencies and law are related to human rights, democracy, inequalities, populism, global interdependencies and so on. Besides revis- iting and renewing different aspects of Elias’s fgurational sociology, I hope not to be too bold by saying that some of these texts may become ‘classical’ themselves. The second part of the book brings to the reader the topics of homi- cide, mass murder, terrorism, violence against indigenous people and, on the opposite side of the spectrum, defence policy. Violence and its coun- terpart, the containment of violence, are important topics that permeate vii viii FOreWOrd Elias’s entire oeuvre, also a scholarship that has been developed and advanced by important fgurationalists. Texts here presented should be seen as an important continuation of an already established debate. Circumscribed around the notions of habitus and established–outsiders’ relations, the third part of the book brings to the front problems of integration, discrimination and conficts involving groups of different nationalities, cosmologies, races, generations and beliefs. Established–outsiders relations are also a rooted topic and approach among academics keen to Elias, and it fnds in this book a good group of articles that adds new analytical possibilities and empirical observations to the debate. The book closes with provocative conclusive remarks from Stephen Mennell, where detachment and political motives are placed together to discuss emancipatory motives that underlie Elias’s work. Reading through the 18 chapters, one will most likely agree that Elias’s approach strongly contributes to a more reality-congruent understanding of our time and the acute problems we face these days. That’s quite an achievement for sensitive topics like many referred to in this book, especially considering the increasing number of scholars that are moving towards more involved theoretical orientations, as Mennell mentions. Another provocative view in this conclusive chapter regards political ideologies, which Mennell places along the We-I continuum. In this con- nection, the freedom of the individual, one of the most appealing ideologies of contemporaneity is seen as a philosophical myth. For Elias, sociologists are (or should be) myth hunters, and the concept of fguration defes any attempt at understanding the individual as ‘completely autonomous’ and detached from ‘society’. Edited books, as is the case of Elias in Troubled Times, usually have no closing or conclusive remarks; chapters are autonomous from each other. But, taken together with the enlightening Introduction well written by Florence Delmotte and Barbara Górnicka, Mennell’s text does, indeed, consist of conclusive remarks, as the editors pointed by using this for a title of the Fourth Part. His provocative remarks offer an intellectual tool not only to look at many of the problems faced in contemporaneity but also underlies discussions in most chapters of the book. Elias in Troubled Times is the fourth book in the series Palgrave Studies on Norbert Elias. I couldn’t be happier to be able to publish this excellent book, and I am also touched by Florence and Barbara’s sensitivity and nice words. I honestly want to express my gratitude and appreciation for their notable work, as well as for each author. Some of the texts here presented FOreWOrd ix can establish a straight line of discussion with the three previous books— Gaelic Games in Society, Beyond the Knowledge Crisis and Britain and Terrorism. I am sure this book offers a great contribution to fgurational sociology, and hope this series will continue publishing creative, provocative and professional pieces as this. Campinas, Brazil Tatiana Savoia Landini February 2021 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is a follow-up to a conference organized at the University Saint- Louis in Brussels, Belgium, in December 2018, entitled ‘Global Interdependencies: What’s New in the Human Society of Individuals?’. It was devoted to the current political and academic relevance of the work of Norbert Elias. This conference was itself the fruit of sometimes long col- laboration between certain Figurati, the members of the Norbert Elias Foundation, and from a number of universities, frst and foremost those from Leicester and Dublin. The event was attended by over a hundred researchers of all ages and different disciplines from all over the world: including those who contributed to this volume, relying on the richness of the exchanges made possible during this event. It is for this very reason, we would frst like to thank once again all of those who made this conference possible: Stephen Mennell (University College Dublin) and Jason Hughes (University of Leicester and Norbert Elias Foundation), Denis Duez, Anne-Alexandra Fournier and Teresa Elola-Calderon (Université Saint-Louis—Bruxelles), among many others. Secondly, we would like to thank

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