15
Newsletter of the Norbert Elias Foundation
FROM THE NORBERT ELIAS FOUNDATION
Wilbert van Vree wins the second Norbert Elias Amal Prize
The Norbert Elias Amal Prize 2001 has been awarded to Wilbert van Vree for his book Meetings, Manners and Civilisation (London: University of Leicester Press, 1999 - see Figurations 12). The prize is awarded for the best rst book by a European social scientist published in the years 1998–2000. This year the jury con- sisted of Professors Carlo Mongardini and Alessan- dro Cavalli on behalf of the Premio Europeo Amal organisation, and Professors Johan Gouds- blom, Hermann Korte and Stephen Mennell on behalf of the Norbert Elias Foundation. The prize was awarded for the rst time in 1999 to David Lepoutre for his book Coeur de Banlieue (see Figurations 12). This year’s prize was presented to Dr Van Vree at a ceremony in Amal on 26 May. A full report will appear in Figurations 16.
Offer to Librarians The Norbert Elias Foundation is in a position to offer a limited number of copies of certain books by Norbert Elias (in various languages) free of charge to university libraries in countries with weak currencies. Readers of Figurations who are interested in this offer should ask the Librarian of their university to write on his or her ofcial letterhead to the Secretary to the Foundation, Saskia Visser, at J.J. Viottastraat 13, 1071 JM Amsterdam, The Netherlands, specifying the titles and the preferred language.
Issue No.15 July 2001 Figurations 1 THE CANONISATION OF versation with his fellow-prisoner Lin- ‘Adult Education Schemes for the Brit- ELIAS IN FRANCE: demann, who – says the author – really ish Zone of Germany’, and made sev- A REJOINDER BY DANIEL represents Adolf Eichmann. eral visits to Germany under its auspices GORDON during this period. This was news to I appreciate the opportunity to respond me; I had understood, though I believe to the criticisms of my viewpoints made NORBERT ELIAS IN only on the basis of conversations with by Pieter Spierenburg and others in the LONDON (1) Eric Dunning, that Elias did not return last issue of Figurations. The questions David Rotman has now made a pre- to Germany after the war until he was raised are numerous. They concern such liminary report on the research he car- invited to give two lectures on British things as the relationship between volk- ried out in the Norbert Elias papers in public opinion in Bad Homburg in 1959 ish thought and sociology in Elias’s the German National Literature Archive and 1960. Elias once told me that he had work; Elias’s relationship to Max Weber; at Marbach-an-der-Neckar, as second worked for British intelligence at the end the canonisation of Elias, especially in recipient of the Elias Foundation’s Mar- of the war, interviewing German pris- France; and the value of Elias’s France/ bach research bursary. His work focused oners to detect unrepentant Nazis. He Germany contrast image. Some ques- in particular on Elias’s correspondence did not go into any further detail, per- tions were also raised about whether I in the years between his leaving Frank- haps because, in the 1970s in my experi- had even read certain basic texts, such as furt and his appointment to a post at the ence, people who worked in intelligence Elias’s 1929 essay on anti-semitism (an University of Leicester, as a means of during the war still felt bound by the essay that I had in fact already obtained reconstructing the pattern of his daily life Ofcial Secrets Act. I have wondered and read, thanks to the municipal library and, in turn, of understanding the devel- whether the collection of letters from in Mannheim). In light of the numerous opment of his thought and writing in prisoners of war written in the summer of methodological and substantive issues, those years. The period 1933–54 remains 1944 on which he draws in The Germans I think it is unwise for me to try to the part of his life about which least (pp. 390–8) could have been acquired at respond in this newsletter, which is not detail is known. Elias’s own reminis- that time. Perhaps his work after the war a forum for the publication of scholarly cences dwell most vividly on the Bre- may have involved a continuing intelli- articles or lengthy exchanges. I am sat- slau, Heidelberg and Frankfurt years, gence component under the (very plau- ised with the fact that Figurations has and the research of Korte, Hackeschmidt sible) guise of adult education? Unfortu- made the direction of my work known. and Blomert has also shed light on that nately, David Rotman was unable to turn I have two articles on Elias in progress; earlier period; the direct memories of up anything further about these post-war drafts of each have been provisionally most of those of us who knew him later visits to Germany, beyond the fact that accepted for publication. I think the in life, on the other hand, date back only they took place. best way to continue this debate will be to the Leicester years. for me to inform the readers of Figura- Rotman also studied the letters Elias tions where they can read these articles Rotman found evidence about the Paris wrote when Über den Prozess der Zivili- after they appear in print. In the mean- sojourn rather scanty, although surviving sation was published; among the papers, time, those with a special interest in Eli- letters from the late 1930s when Elias he even found the card of Sigmund as’s treatment of France or in his treat- was corresponding from London with Freud, to whom Elias had sent a copy. ment of early modern civility can consult (notably) Gisèle Freund in Paris shed a On the intriguing question of his rela- my 1994 book, Citizens Without Sover- little light on the Paris years. Rotman tions in London with Karl Mannheim, eignty, to get a sense of why I disagree notes a number of letters signed only by Rotman was unable to nd any new evi- with Elias on some major questions. rst name or nickname, which he has dence. There has been much specula- not been able to identify (I believe, how- tion about a positive breach between the ever, that those signed ‘Teddy’ are from two having taken place at some stage, NORBERT ELIAS: THE PLAY Adorno). Rotman proposes to pursue although Elias always denied it. Rotman You’ve read the books, now see the further research on the Paris period in concludes judiciously that ‘only six let- play. Markus Friederici, who teaches in the les of the prefecture of Paris. ters, dated from 1936 to 1941, never- the Institut für Soziologie at the Uni- theless allow us to think that the links versity of Hamburg, has written a play On the London years, evidence is more between the two men, who would seem in three acts, Der Sündenfall des Nor- abundant, and Rotman reports, for exam- to have lived out their exile in England bert Elias (‘The Downfall of Norbert ple, that Elias changed his address no in totally different ways, became more Elias’) as a very original way of teach- less than twenty-four times between distant with the years’. ing the principles of gurational sociol- 1935 and 1948. He traces Elias’s sources ogy. ‘Norbert Elias, Menschenwissen- of income, from Jewish charities, from SJM schaftler’ is himself the leading charac- his research fellowship at the London ter. The rst act, true to life, sees Elias School of Economics (1940–44), and in conversation with a student while out from the Workers’ Education Associa- NORBERT ELIAS IN walking. The second act sees Elias on tion (WEA) and London and Cambridge LONDON (2) trial, defending his ideas before a judge, extra-mural departments. Between 1945 In his book Confronting History, standing up to prosecuting counsel. In and 1950 Elias worked regularly for A Memoir (Madison WN: University the third act, he is in prison, and in con- the British Foreign Ofce, under their of Wisconsin Press, 2000, pp. 210-11),
2 Figurations Issue No.15 July 2001 the late George Mosse reminisced: In honour him when his seminal book was in my opinion it is fundamentally awed. London my friends Francis Carsten and republished in English. Elias was a More particularly, Goldthorpe presents his wife, Ruth, ran a hospitable house. lonely pioneer in the history of respect- his understanding of sociology as the He was tall and earnest, while his wife, ability, a history in which I myself solution to the subject’s current crisis, from South Germany was lively and became interested in the 1980s. If I whereas in my view, far from represent- equally knowledgeable. Both in their had been involved in it earlier, I might ing a solution much of what he writes own ways were important and commit- have had a better appreciation of Elias is more a symptom and thus part of the ted historians, Francis writing seminal himself, and we might have had a fruit- problem. Let me attempt to demonstrate books spanning the time from the six- ful relationship. The civilising process briey how that is so. teenth century to the modern age. With which he had analysed was crucial in his mastery of the sources, Francis was establishing the manners which became Goldthorpe is surely right to argue that a different kind of historian than I was, normative in our society, and these in ‘The intellectual state of contemporary with my bent for theory and analysis, turn became an integral part of the sociology could in fact only be described and he was justiably often critical of behaviour patterns which constituted as one of general, and steadily worsen- my work. If he were to write the kind respectability. And respectability, in ing, disarray’ (p. 1). He is surely also of memoir I have attempted, however, turn, became the cement holding soci- right in seeing so-called ‘social theo- it would be lled with the drama of pol- ety together, as important for this pur- rists’, such as Giddens and Alexander, itics, for in his early days he was for pose as any economic activity. not only as responding to but more as a time an active Socialist and involved central contributors to the crisis in the with a German underground anti-facist sense that, for them, ‘a vista is opened movement. In his house I met George NATALIE HEINICH IN up of books being written out of books, Lichtheim and the sociologist Norbert AMSTERDAM with little need for empirical enquiry’ Elias (who played Santa Claus at the Nathalie Heinich, author of La sociolo- (p. 7). However, Goldthorpe deals with Carstens’ Christmas parties). gie de Norbert Elias (Paris: La Décou- ‘social theorists’ dismissively and asser- verte, 1997) and of many books in the tively rather than by seeking to demon- Elias was then quite unknown, though sociology of art, has been appointed to strate the weakness of their case. Moreo- his famous book about the civilising the Boekman Chair in the Sociology of ver, his own notion of what constitutes process had already appeared in 1939, the Arts at the University of Amsterdam. ‘empirical enquiry’ is excessively narrow published by an obscure Swiss publish- Her inaugural lecture, ‘What is an artis- and rests, as does his view of ‘rational ing house. He later obtained positions in tic event? A new approach to sociologi- action (choice) theory’ (RAT) as the most Kenya [sic] and the University of Leices- cal discourse’ was published in Boekman desirable form of sociological theorising ter before retiring in Holland and enjoy- Cahiers 44, 2000. In the Boekman Cah- on what are essentially outmoded Pop- ing his very belated fame. (I thought iers 46, December 2000, there appear perian foundations. These lead him to an that gave hope to all the rest of us.) But two critical assessments of Heinich’s almost entirely method-driven view of the many times I stayed in Amsterdam I work: Rudi Laermans, ‘Nathalie Hein- the subject rather than to an appreciation never visited him, for I had caused him ich, a sociologist of the arts: a critical of the need for a constant two-way traf- great offence because of the arguments appraisal’ (pp. 389-402), and Willem c between research and theory. we had when we met, and because I Schinkel, ‘What do we do when we say had written a not too favourable review ‘This is an artistic event?’ (pp. 404-13). Goldthorpe’s rst chapter is entitled when his book was republished without ‘The Uses of History in Sociology: taking modern scholarship into account. Reections on Some Recent Tenden- Norbert Elias was without doubt dif- cies’. In it, his principal targets are cult to get along with, touchy and opin- GOLDTHORPE’S VIEW OF the likes of Barrington Moore, Theda ionated. At the time when I wrote The SOCIOLOGY Skocpol and Immanuel Wallerstein. He Crisis of German Ideology we quar- John H. Goldthorpe, On Sociology: is right to be critical of Barrington relled, especially about the nature of Numbers, Narratives, and the Integra- Moore for his failure properly to under- the German National Party, which he tion of Research and Theory. Oxford, stand historical work on the English defended against the charge of racism, Oxford University Press. 2000, 337pp. civil war. He is also right to excoriate in spite of its undoubtedly racist and In On Sociology, Goldthorpe sets forth all these authors for their dependency anti-Jewish propaganda. I would not the credo regarding sociology as a sci- on secondary sources. His central argu- give in either, full of my discovery of ence that he has developed in a research ment in this chapter, however, is that the Janus-like face of these German career stretching back to the 1950s – and history and sociology ought to remain conservatives: respectable in public but back to Leicester, where as a young man separate subjects because, while soci- racist on the street. Unfortunately this he was a central gure along with Nor- ologists can collect and construct their disagreement never became the kind of bert Elias in lively debates. Consisting own new data, historians are necessar- dialogue built upon different points of for the most part of a set of previously ily eternally reliant on the nite relics view from which I have beneted so published essays, it is a forcefully writ- randomly left over from the past. Not- much. Later, however, it was some of ten book and, for the most part, not withstanding such facts as that, as one my students who quite rightly helped annoyingly repetitive. It is also replete aspect of processes of rationalisation, organise a New York symposium to with illuminating insights. Nevertheless, relics are being increasingly deliber-
Issue No.15 July 2001 Figurations 3 ately bequeathed in order to help future are one of the constitutive features of Durkheim who are, for Goldthorpe, the historians, in that way reducing to some these worlds. principal ‘villains of the piece.’ Such extent the randomness of the historical crudities are, I would suggest, to be record, at one level this argument is a Following the ‘methodological individ- expected from the pioneers of a subject truism. At another, however, it betrays ualism’ proposed by Popper (1957), such as Comte, Durkheim and, yes, the poverty of imagination of a largely another of Goldthorpe’s repeated con- Comte’s intellectual enemy and pro- method-driven view of the subject. That tentions is that sociological explana- poser of a statistical approach to the sub- is because the main reason why his- tions must always be related to the ject, Quetelet. It is Goldthorpe’s conten- torical or, more properly, processual level of individual social actions. In tion that Comte and Durkheim remained explanations should be paramount in other words, sophisticated though trapped, on the one hand in an eight- sociology is the fact that humans and Goldthorpe’s approach undoubtedly is eenth-century conception of the world – their societies, indeed the universe as a statistically and in regard to the method- in which it was ‘deemed to be governed whole, are processes in space–time. It ology of survey research, it ultimately by stern necessity and universal laws’ is a pity that Goldthorpe seems never rests on an unexamined commonsense rather than by ‘laws of chance’ (p. 261) to have read Elias’s discussions of his- or pre-scientic and in many ways arbi- – and on the other, in a ‘holistic’ view of tory and sociology. Had he done so, he trary understanding of what ‘an indi- societies and sociological method. What might have managed to avoid the com- vidual’ is. For example, he appears to Goldthorpe fails to see in this connec- monsense view of time which implicitly want a sociology which is entirely inde- tion is that, whilst we can see with hind- plagues this chapter and much of the pendent of psychology and he describes sight that Quetelet’s contribution to sta- rest of his book. explanations ‘in terms of status striving, tistics was, in severely modied form, frustration or anxiety’ as of a ‘more going to prove sociologically more fruit- One of Goldthorpe’s recurring argu- psychologistic nature’ (p. 111) In short, ful than Comte’s conception of univer- ments in On Sociology is ‘the claim that Goldthorpe works with an homo clausus sal social laws, the latter’s ‘sociological the methods of enquiry that are used conception, and thus views the ‘capac- holism’ or, more properly, his view of across the natural and the social sci- ity of social scientists to gain access to organisms and societies as structurally ences alike are informed by what might actors’ values, beliefs, attitudes, goals, more complex than astronomical, physi- be loosely called a common “logic of or preferences, let alone to their more cal and chemical phenomena and hence inference” – a logic of relating evidence complex mental constructions such as of biology and sociology as needing syn- and argument.’ (p. 67). He later says “denitions of the situation...”’ (p. 89) thesising more than analytic methods is, that ‘(T)his logic of inference can never with what he calls ‘radical scepticism’. again with retrospective modications, be denitively codied’, which perhaps In this way, he is led to construct a perfectly reasonable. More particularly, explains why Goldthorpe, whilst repeat- view of sociology which avoids crucial Comte recognised that human societies edly incanting the phrase ‘logic of infer- aspects of the real world of humans. are not just heaps of (rational!) individ- ence’ like a mantra, never species any Goldthorpe’s ‘individual’ is typically ual atoms but organised, and that their of the rules which supposedly govern ‘rational’ (read modern, western, adult) smallest self-sustaining unit, the equiva- this ‘universal logic’. Perhaps he thinks and he (Goldthorpe) discusses issues lent of the biological cell, is the family. it is a Kantian a priori? More signi- such as class and social mobility with- Following on from arguments such as cantly, Goldthorpe informs us that: ‘The out reference to essential concepts such this, it was Elias’s contention that the application of this logic presupposes a as property and, above all, power. He is gurations that human beings form have world that exists independently of our also enabled in this manner assertively recurring structural properties such as ideas about it, and that, in engaging to dismiss what he appears to understand interdependency chains, power ratios, in scientic enquiry, we aim to obtain as the ‘culturalist’ approach to the under- axes of tension and class systems which information, or data, about this world standing of social inequality of authors cannot be accounted for by reference to that we can then take as a basis for infer- such as Pierre Bourdieu (pp. 168, 9). the properties of individuals and their ences that extend beyond the data to actions alone. Imagine: if Goldthorpe hand, whether in a descriptive or explan- Arguably the weakest part of has his way, rather than Comte, Marx atory mode’ (p. 67). Perhaps predict- Goldthorpe’s overall case, however, is and Durkheim being regarded as central ably, Goldthorpe fails to tell us why provided by some of what he regards among sociology’s ‘founding fathers’ – we cannot infer ‘beyond the data’ ‘in a as key, clinching arguments in his nal for obvious reasons, he does not wish descriptive or explanatory mode’ in his- chapter on ‘sociology and the probabi- to deny this status to Max Weber – torical sociological studies, a possibility listic revolution’. I do not claim that they will be seen as having led us into which would seem further to offset his Goldthorpe’s arguments here are weak a blind alley, and our ‘true ancestors’ ideas about the limitations which accrue because what he calls the ‘probabilistic will be Condorcet and Quetelet, the man from the nite character of historical revolution’ never occurred. That would whose use of the term ‘social physics’ relics. More importantly still, however, be patently absurd. I am, though, going led Comte to coin the neologism ‘soci- and whilst probably thinking that he is to suggest that he shows a leniency ology’ in the rst place. If Goldthorpe applying a coup de grâce to the argu- towards the arguments of Quetelet, some were right on this, the irony would be ments of voluntaristic social construc- of them crude in the extreme, that he supreme. However, as I hope I have tionists, he evidently fails to realise that fails to show towards the in some ways begun to show in this review, he is people’s ideas about their social worlds equally crude arguments of Comte and not right. His mode of thinking does
4 Figurations Issue No.15 July 2001 not enable him to recognise anything eties not rely on the gallows or guillo- form it might take. Fletcher (1997) has other than polar extremes, dichotomies tine to enforce discipline? The old prob- provided three criteria of a ‘decivilis- or either–ors. Moreover, his ongoing lems of functionalism resurfaced in these ing’ process. Framing them in terms attempt to impose outmoded Popperian accounts. Although Foucault’s account of punishment, they are (1) offenders conceptions on to our subject exacer- was to prove extraordinarily inuential are perceived as fundamentally differ- bates the admittedly serious crisis in in the decade following its publication in ent from the rest of society; (2) pun- which sociology nds itself today. If 1975, scholars were becoming increas- ishment is responsive to spontaneous John Goldthorpe wishes to continue sup- ingly dissatised with its one-sided per- calls for revenge; (3) punishment relies porting the positions which he espouses spective, which emphasised issues of on external constraints rather than the in On Sociology, perhaps he should control but neglected the expressive inculcation of norms. The extent to seriously consider resurrecting the title aspects of punishment. which these criteria pertain to contem- ‘social physics’. Alternatively, he might porary punishment is still a matter of recognise that there has been a struggle The tenets of the civilising approach dispute. Opponents of the ‘decivilising’ between the advocates of, on the one seemed to offer historians of punish- thesis argue that punishment is now hand an historical and comparative ment the resources to outline the cultural classied under actuarial justice, and approach and, on the other, the advo- bases of control, without relapsing into so represents the belated incursion of cates of a statistical approach to soci- a Whiggish reading of history. The rst bureaucratic practices into the eld of ology since its early days and that this notable effort was Pieter Spierenburg’s punishment. As a result, punishment is rivalry can be fruitful if care is taken to The Spectacle of Suffering, an examina- becoming more rather than less ration- avoid the dismissive attitude towards the tion of the changing forms of punish- alised. Secondly, opponents point to the work of others which Goldthorpe exem- ment in Holland and Europe between resurgence of rehabilitative practices in plies in this book. 1650 and 1750. A culture that openly tol- the 1990s, after a period of doubt in erated violence put a premium on public the 1980s. Proponents of the thesis can Eric Dunning displays of punishment. In the midst of point to the record numbers imprisoned University of Leicester and University growing interdependence, as the elites or under some form of supervision, College Dublin were brought closer to the masses, they and the readiness of governments to affected disgust at public punishments, pass laws which incapacitate offenders Editors’ Note: We invited John a sentiment which gradually percolated (three strikes and you’re out etc.). The Goldthorpe to write a rejoinder to the through the populace. Although there strongest argument in favour of the above review, but he declined. is some dispute about the details of thesis is to point to the shift in senti- Spierenberg’s account, the usefulness ments regarding offenders. For exam- of Elias in interpreting shifts in pun- ple, in 1895, the Gladstone Committee THE INFLUENCE OF ishment is increasingly accepted. How- in England argued that in comparison NORBERT ELIAS UPON ever, I have some doubt over whether to other notable social achievements, CRIMINOLOGY Elias’s schema can capture the complete the persistence of a number of habitual The inuence of Norbert Elias upon complexity of penal relations. In some offenders was a ‘growing stain’ upon criminology has taken two forms. The respects, the approach of Elias is still English civilisation. Furthermore, many rst can be dated from the 1980s and wedded to a Whiggish reading of history, of the provisions that were developed continues up to the present day. Elias’s since it stresses that punishment moved against allegedly habitual criminals, notion of a civilising process was adapted away from a repressive approach. But e.g. preventive detention, fell into by scholars dissatised by the two reduc- this neglects the dilemma penal admin- disuse because it was thought they were tive accounts that had been dominant in istrators faced in trying to demarcate the a mark of a totalitarian society. Now, histories of punishment. The rst was a difference between offenders and law- governments view growing prison num- complacent Whiggish reading of history abiding citizens. As one commentator bers as some sort of political virility that simply assumed that people would opined in the 1770s: ‘how to compel, symbol, an indication of their readiness be repulsed by open displays of vio- and at the same time reform, is the ques- to defend the general populace against lence, such as the scaffold, and would tion’. The problem with historians using putative attacks. These issues are a willingly choose less obviously violent Elias’s approach is that they tend to matter of pressing debate, but it is clear forms of punishment. Its obvious prob- efface this persistent element of compul- that Elias’s work will be invaluable in lem is that it explains the diminution sion. explaining them. of overt violence as a result of a benign human nature, which forecloses But Elias’s work is not only used in the Barry Vaughan on further questions. Scholars who dis- mining of history. Contemporary devel- Institute of Public Administration puted this view generally adopted either opments in punishment globally, chiey Dublin a Marxist or Foucauldian explanation: the huge growth in the numbers impris- punishment served a societal function, oned but also the apparent coarsening Key Readings be it the maintenance of class hegemony of sentiments towards offenders has Fletcher, J. (1997) Violence and Civili- or the disciplining of the working class. led some criminologists to question sation. Cambridge: Polity Press. But why did society embrace less vio- whether we are currently witnessing a Garland, D. (1990) Punishment and Modern lent forms of punishment? Why did soci- ‘decivilising’ of punishment and what Society. Oxford. Clarendon Press.
Issue No.15 July 2001 Figurations 5 Pratt, J. (1998) ‘Toward the “Decivilis- prisoner who is under permanent obser- ferences, the unending quest for con- ing” of Punishment?’, Social and Legal vation in the Panopticon. vergence and divergence, is in the end Studies 7 (4): 487–515. simply the privilege of the teacher. When Spierenberg, P. (1984), The Spectacle of Consequently following this mode of engaging in substantive research, it is Suffering. Cambridge: Cambridge Uni- analysis, Dennis Smith is less interested less easy to refuse to choose. versity Press. in the explanatory power of the various Vaughan, B. (2000), ‘The Civilising theories he compares. He quietly leaves The third and last part of the book Process and the Janus-Face of Modern aside the issues of research, fact-nding (‘Towards Global Modernity’) differs Punishment’, Theoretical Criminology 4 and historical evidence. Instead, he skil- somewhat from the two previous parts. (1): 71–91. fully moves back and forth between the It contains a chapter on the genesis of personal experience and the particular the European Union (using notions of vision of the theorist. His interest in Arendt, Elias and Parsons), as well as Elias similarly stems from the fact that a chapter on shame and humiliation in VISIONS OF MODERNITY he has a ‘strong vision of how the world modern life (which is part of a larger Dennis Smith, Norbert Elias and works’ (p. viii). And the excitement that study in progress). The nal chapter is Modern Social Theory, London: Sage, his writings produce comes for Smith a synthesis of the book as a whole and 2001, ISBN 0-7619-6107-0, 198 pp. largely from Elias’s struggle to cope with a plea for social theory to address the ‘the tension between his Jewish identity issue of ‘global modernity’. In his new book Dennis Smith presents and his German identity.’ a reading of Norbert Elias by compar- Johan Heilbron ing him to four social theorists: Hannah While this mode of analysing a number Centre de sociologie européenne, Paris Arendt, Talcott Parsons, Michel Foucault of major sociological contributions has and Utrecht University and Zygmunt Bauman. The focus of the produced a lively book, it is – sociolog- comparison is the western experience ically speaking – not entirely satisfac- ______of ‘modernity’ in the twentieth century. tory. Personal experiences, after all, do Recurrent themes are the specic devel- not straightforwardly lead to signicant Despite its title, this book is not prima- opment of Germany and other European oeuvres. There are mediating structures rily about Norbert Elias. If you are look- societies, the interpretation of the Holo- and Dennis Smith does not give suf- ing for a volume which offers a sys- caust, the demise of European Empires, cient information about the social and tematic and sophisticated discussion of the changes in the regulation of the body intellectual context in which these the- Elias’s thought, Stephen Mennell’s book and the formation of personality struc- orists were trained, worked and wrote remains the place to go. If you want a tures. their work. contextualisation of Elias and a demon- stration of ways in which the agenda of In the rst part of the book (‘Modernity From a pedagogical perspective, Smith’s modern social thought might centralise and Elias’), Smith explores the bio- approach has a disadvantage as well. His his work, one ought to begin with Rich- graphical origins of Elias’s concerns and book is clear and well informed, but I ard Kilminster’s recent book. Dennis his distinctive approach to the issues nd his mode of comparison too eclec- Smith has different axes to grind; axes concerned. Such a biographical perspec- tic. When Elias resembles the sherman which, despite the enticing title, make tive also informs the comparisons with and Foucault the prisoner, it is all too this book of limited interest to gura- Arendt, Parsons, Foucault and Bauman, easy to conclude that ‘modernity encom- tional sociology. which make up the second part of the passes both situations’; and that in order book. Smith interprets these works as to understand modernity ‘we need the On a number of occasions, Dennis Smith the embodiment of a particular ‘vision’, resources of both Michel Foucault and states that his book represents ground- at the root of which is the biography Norbert Elias.’ work for a wider project of the devel- of the author. He quotes Schumpeter’s opment of an original social theory of saying that in every scientic venture In his chapter on Parsons, Smith explic- global modernity. He points towards a ‘the thing that comes rst is Vision.’ In itly argues for a form of eclecticism. couple of the dominant concerns of this Schumpeter’s sense, vision designates Instead of having to chose between alter- theory – which he promises to offer the specic set of phenomena to be natives, Smith wants to bring together in future publications – at the end of investigated as well as the personal intu- different works in a reasoned debate: this volume. He tries to say some origi- ition of their structure. ‘There is no need to make a choice, since nal things about European union as an our knowledge and our understanding instance of the global lengthening of What Smith thus examines and com- are in continual dialogue, each modify- chains of interdependency under Ameri- pares are ‘visions’ of modernity and their ing the other’ (p. 77). And so indeed, can hegemony, and shame and humilia- biographical infrastructure. Such partic- he succeeds in combining Arendt, Elias, tion as emotions which are dominant ular visions are well captured by meta- Foucault, Parsons …. in this new guration. Smith positions phors. Elias thus resembles the sher- this project in terms of issues raised man from the story by Edgar Allen Poe But perhaps the ‘continual dialogue’ by Elias, Arendt, Parsons, Foucault, and who survives the maelstrom. Foucault, between canonised gures, the perma- Bauman, and evidently sees no need on the other hand, identied with the nent search for their similarities and dif- to pay sustained attention to those who
6 Figurations Issue No.15 July 2001 have already attempted to develop the critics can be pulled together into any Bauman had argued that the Holocaust themes of those writers (for instance, synthesis approaching coherence. This has that status. No doubt critics who are Tom Scheff has a surprisingly low pro- should come as no surprise to anyone better informed than I will be able to nd le in this text). who has read their texts in detail and similar projections throughout the rest with empathy for the authors. (To my of the book. Third, Smith’s project will This is a book in which Dennis Smith mind, if we are to ‘compare and con- have to be clearly and thoroughly organ- is thinking out loud. One wishes Smith’s trast’ Elias with any current thinkers it ised if it is going to be able to synthesize project well, but this book highlights should be Giddens and Bourdieu – and a range of literature and deal with sub- problems which will have to be resolved in at least one of those comparisons, stantial empirical issues. if it is to have any coherence or appeal. the virtues of Elias’s intellectual project First, Smith brings Elias together with the will become very clear indeed.) Second, Smith is to be applauded and supported other thinkers mentioned above because Smith’s project will only be able to pos- for trying to ‘do’ social theory on the of his ‘intuition’ that a comparing and sess the theoretical substance it needs grand scale which is represented by contrasting of their themes and concerns if greater care is taken to avoid project- Elias, Arendt, Parsons, Foucault and will be able to open up new theoretical ing arguments onto writers. For exam- Bauman. But the texts of the writers avenues. On the evidence presented in ple, in the chapter on Elias and Bauman, upon whom Smith seeks to draw also this book, either Smith’s intuition was it is said that Bauman believes that show that grand ambition works best on wrong; or he has to appreciate that per- humans have an ‘innate’ moral capacity rm foundations. haps Elias, Arendt, Parsons, Foucault (he believes no such thing) and that and Bauman are further apart than he Bauman treats the Soviet experience as Keith Tester believes. Smith does not develop a con- prototypical for understanding moder- University of Portsmouth vincing case that the positions of these nity. I was under the impression that
RECENT BOOKS AND Curiously, Sport Matters is his rst sole- (2) that ‘sport’ per se is not homogenous, ARTICLES authored book in his long list of publica- there are many matters within, and of, tions, and it was voted the best book of ‘sport’ itself. Using a rigorous gura- the year in the eld by the North Ameri- tional analysis, Dunning more than suc- can Society for the Sociology of Sport. cessfully fulls these expectations with He describes it as a sequel to Quest a series of critical essays on: emotions in Eric Dunning, Sport Matters: Sociolog- for Excitement (1986) in which his co- sport and leisure; sport and gender; the ical Studies of Sport, Violence and Civi- author was Norbert Elias, and to Sport commodication of sport; sport and race lization. London: Routledge, 1999. ix + and Leisure in the Civilising Process co- (which is a new addition to previously 281 pp., ISBN: 0-415-09378-3 (pbk) edited with Chris Rojek in 1992. The published work); soccer and soccer hoo- title of this work sets our expectations liganism in a world perspective (with Eric Dunning has published extensively on two levels: (1) that sport does matter additional data from North America and on gurational sociology, sport and sport- as a social activity pursued by many, Canada); and sport in the Western civilis- related issues in leading journals and both as participants and spectators i.e. ing process. The book is also a detailed has co-authored many previous books. sport warrants sociological enquiry and; outline and defence of gurational soci-
Issue No.15 July 2001 Figurations 7 ology as a theoretically and empirically managers, top-level players and agents. tional sociology’ and, contrary to Cron- informed school of sociology. Chapters 6 and 7 draw on previously in’s (2000) review, I consider Sport Mat- published research on soccer hooligan- ters to be an outstanding text which is His introduction speaks to ‘mainstream’ ism (e.g. Williams et al., 1989) with the (perhaps) unusually accessible for a text sociology of the importance of ‘sport’ addition of the phenomenon of North of its kind. This is not surprising to those as a eld of sociological enquiry, and of American and Canadian spectators as who have engaged with the author (as the relevance of gurational sociology part of a world social problem, and with student or professional). to this enquiry. He argues that particular the development of American sport as a matters in the sporting eld such as the civilising process. Chapters 8 and 9 look Katie Liston relationship between genetic inheritance at the issues of ‘Sport in the process of University College Dublin and social structure and, in the determi- racial stratication’ and ‘Sport, gender nation of sporting talent can be fruitfully and civilisation’ respectively. Perhaps explored using Elias’s synthesising per- most interesting in chapter 8 is the spective which ‘is concerned with the author’s conceptualisation of the sport– links between biology, psychology, soci- race relationship as the result of caste– Jan-Willem Gerritsen, The Control of ology and the history of human beings’ class interactions, and the exploration Fuddle and Flash: A Sociological His- (p.13). More importantly, the gura- of the social conditions under which tory of the Regulation of Alcohol and tional synthesis directly addresses ‘the sporting prowess can become a power Opiates. Translated from the Dutch by problem of how and why it has come to resource. Ironically, this sporting prow- Beverley Jackson. Leiden: Brill 2000. be that humans have a need for activities ess has meant that the success of black such as sports’ (p.15). Chapter 1, enti- athletes has tended to polarize the class Intoxicants are pleasant and addictive. tled ‘On Problems of the Emotions of division of blacks. Paradoxically, the As a result, they arouse both positive Sport and Leisure’, elaborates on the ini- author suggests, ‘a decrease in the intense and negative attitudes. There are reasons tial idea put forward by Elias and Dun- competitive pressure for sporting suc- for buying and enjoying them, and there ning (1969) that sport is a signicant cess which fuels black superiority in spe- are reasons for limiting or possibly even and stimulating social activity in the cic sports would probably result and, forbidding their supply and use. broader social contexts of Western soci- with it, a decline in that superiority per eties characterised by increasing control se’ (p. 218). Dunning’s work on sport, Approaches to this dilemma differ from and routinisation. Drawing on the dis- gender and civilisation is an elaboration one country to the next, and from one tinction between spare time and leisure, of earlier work on sport as a male pre- period to the next in each country. They Dunning and Elias suggested that emo- serve. However, in this chapter Dun- reect, in Jan-Willem Gerritsen’s phrase, tional arousal plays an important part in ning extends his analysis to aspects of the prevalence of particular regimes reg- sport and leisure in that sport performs the production and reproduction of fem- ulating the production, distribution and a de-routinising function, that it operates inine habituses, identities and behaviour, consumption of intoxicants. The ques- as a ‘highly controlled decontrolling of and to the relationships between mascu- tion is how those regimes come about, emotional controls’. Dunning assesses linity and femininity that are expressed function, and change. the success of the gurational perspec- through sport. Using the gurational tive employed in 1969 in withstanding perspective, sport and gender are cen- This question is tackled cogently in Ger- the test of time and critique. Chapters tred within a long-term civilising proc- ritsen’s book The Control of Fuddle and 2 and 3 are a restatement of the central ess where the balance of power relations Flash, rst published in Dutch in 1994, tenets of the theory of the civilising between males and females in sports and and now also available in English. Trag- process. Of particular importance are other activities has shifted over time. ically, the author suddenly died shortly aspects of sport in Western processes of Hence, the development of sport as a after completing his book. But his contri- state formation which currently appear male preserve, ‘a principal locus for bution remains important, and the uent to give ‘modern’ sports a degree of rela- the inculcation and public expression of English translation by Beverley Jackson tive autonomy, contrary to suggestions traditional standards of masculinity’ (p. is a welcome addition both to the spe- by some commentators that globalisa- 236) in Western societies, is character- cialist literature on alcohol and drugs tion and commercialisation processes ised by shifts in this power balance. and to gurational studies in general. threaten the basic structures of sport. In Sport Matters Dunning has success- The Control of Fuddle and Flash is an Chapters 4 and 5 deal respectively with fully pushed the sociological study of ambitious book. It aims to offer empiri- the development of soccer as a world sport to the forefront of theoretical and cally founded sociological insights into game, and with the dynamics of sports empirical sociological enquiry. The text the regulation of the two major ‘intoxi- consumption. The latter is an important is provocative and intellectually rigor- cants’ – alcohol and opiates – in industrial contribution to the issue of the commod- ous, and presents a valuable body of societies in the nineteenth and twentieth ication of sports, as the author uses knowledge for students and profession- centuries. While focusing on three coun- the gurational perspective to highlight als alike. I concur with Guttmann’s tries: England, the Netherlands, and the issues such as the inadequate sociolog- (2000) review that Dunning is ‘almost United States, the perspective is truly global, ical analysis of the growing exploita- always fair-minded and persuasive in his extending to the use of opium in India, the tion of football fans by football clubs, detailed outline and defence of gura- former Dutch East Indies, and China.
8 Figurations Issue No.15 July 2001 The historical material is rich and pre- but remained limited to the territory of tion of behaviour in society. He argues sented clearly. Beginning with the supply the US and lasted for only thirteen years. that in this relatively autonomous area side, Gerritsen points at the obvious dif- Today’s prohibition on drugs has been of artistic production, there may have ferences in the production and composi- going on for a much longer period and is occurred an ‘informalising spurt’ in the tion of alcohol and drugs. All the more affecting the whole world. transformation of external constraints striking are the similarities in the ways into internal compulsions, bringing about they are used and treated in various Jan-Willem Gerritsen was Norbert a lessening of the highly restricted cloth- social settings. Alcoholic beverages and Elias’s assistant in 1986. This book ing styles associated with court ballet. opiates have both served the same broad shows how much he learned from Elias, The chapter discusses the social con- range of purposes: to induce religious and how fruitfully Elias’s sociological ventions of court ballet, stylised move- experiences, to alleviate pain and, most approach can be applied to a subject ments in restricted clothing, the ballet commonly nowadays, for ‘pleasure’, not researched by Elias himself. The d’action, the informalising spurt in cloth- whether in the company of others or theory of civilising processes and their ing regimes and the transition to romantic alone. Alongside, and as derivatives of, relation to state formation, as well as ballet with ‘gendered styles of dress’. their religious, medical and recreational the theory of established–outsiders rela- functions, alcohol and drugs have had tionships, pervade the entire book and SJM and continue to have important political resound marvelously in the nal sen- and economic functions as well. They tence: ‘The more established and more have served as sources of taxation, as powerful groups in society ... reproach rallying issues for political campaigns, outsiders for practicing unrestrained, for- and as merchandise for large commer- bidden or antisocial patterns of consump- Jason Hughes, ‘La consommation de cial transactions. tion, and in the fantasies they weave tabac dans le processus de civilisation’, about these outsiders they attribute the in Howard S. Becker, ed., Qu’est-ce There is nothing intrinsic about alcohol censured behaviour of the few to the qu’une drogue? Anglet: Atlantica, 2001, and drugs that makes them either legal group as a whole, with all the repercus- pp. 69–95. or illegal. In the nineteenth century, sions of stigmatization and self-fullling the taxes imposed on the opium trade prophecies that inevitably ensue’. This chapter provides a summary in were considered a legitimate source of French of some of the main arguments revenue for the colonial powers of Brit- Johan Goudsblom of Jason Hughes’s 1997 University of ain and the Netherlands in Asia. The University of Amsterdam Leicester PhD thesis (see Figurations 9). changing balance of power in the Pacic The book Qu’est-ce qu’une drogue con- region brought this lucrative trade to an tains eleven chapters based on papers end. The United States introduced meas- presented at the fth Entretiens Frank- ures to combat the smoking of opium lin in 2000, including an introduction among the Chinese immigrant popula- Norman R. Gabriel, ‘An “Informalising by Howard S. Becker, and psychoan- tion; more importantly, they forged an Spurt” in Clothing Regimes: Court Ballet alytic and anthropological perspectives alliance with China to check the British- in the Civilising Process’, in William on drug use by Juliet Mitchell and Jack dominated opium trade. China had lost J.F. Keenan, ed., Dressed to Impress: Goody respectively. the opium wars of the nineteenth cen- Looking the Part. Oxford: Berg, 2001, tury; this time it was Britain that was pp. 69–83. ISBN: 1-85973-455-3 (hb); SJM cowed. The United States took the initia- 1-85973-460-X (pb). tive for international opium conferences held in 1913 and 1914, which intro- Ballet history, writes Gabriel, has tended duced a worldwide ‘regulatory regime’ to concentrate on individual moments of John Mandalios, Civilisation and the that may be counted among ‘the rst innovation, when specic women per- Human Subject, New York and Oxford: building blocks of an integrated world formers are supposed to have rebelled Rowman and Littleeld, 1999. xiii + 205 community of national states’ (p. 85). against restrictive clothing; if so, it pp. (ISBN: 0-8476-9177-2). appears to me to resemble the history of This is just one of the many insightful cookery’s fondness for invention-myths Mandalios makes an interesting and connections shown by Gerritsen in his about particular recipes. Gabriel sets out original attempt to synthesise the work wide-ranging book. To select one other to move beyond such explanations of on civilisation of Immanuel Waller- item, he points at the structural likeness the history of ballet based on an unstruc- stein, Fernand Braudel, Norbert Elias, between the ‘war on drugs’ that is going tured or fortuitous accumulation of vir- Martin Wight and Benjamin Nelson. on everywhere nowadays and the ‘war tuoso performances in order to explain Unfortunately an already difcult text on alcohol’ fought in the nineteenth and how wider social developments provided is maimed by numerous grammatical twentieth centuries. The Prohibition of a framework for changes in ballet cloth- mistakes, especially the mismatching of alcohol in the United States was effec- ing and style during the eighteenth and verbs and nouns, malapropisms, and a tive from 1920 to 1933; the conse- nineteenth centuries. He follows Elias jargon-ridden, un-reader-friendly style. quences of driving the alcohol industry in investigating the changing balance of Mandalios’s malaproprisms include p. into the criminal circuit were disastrous formality and informality in the regula- 30 ‘haute couture’ for ‘haute cuisine’;
Issue No.15 July 2001 Figurations 9 p. 66 ‘inextricable’ for ‘inexplicable’; effect that: ‘Because it was in fact Europe Braudel, Wight and Nelson about mon- pp. 69, 124 ‘gleam(ed)’ for ‘glean(ed)’; and not America, Asia or Africa that rst asteries, religious orders, and the non- p. 139 ‘corporal’ for ‘corporate’; p. 143 dominated and, in so doing, unied the European civilisations that Elias hardly ‘weary’ for ‘wary’. And here is an exam- world, it is not our perspective but the touched upon in the main body of his ple of Mandalios’s jargon-ridden style: historical record itself that can be called work can serve as a touchstone for all ‘The “humanitic” aspect of this glo- Eurocentric’. It is difcult to think of sorts of discussions and programmes balised sense of self seems nevertheless how that could be more succinctly or of comparative civilisational research. I to point to a dirempted personhood; a non-judgementally put. am sure that Mandalios will continue self which is enveloped simultaneously to make interesting contributions in that by a Eurocentered logic of “systemic Despite such strengths, Mandalios nev- context. I only hope that, if and when he functionality” and some kind of quasi- ertheless falls into some of the traps into does so, he and his publishers pay closer Parsonian “telic” of individual/collective which commentators who are only super- attention to issues of language and com- existence’ (p. 106). ‘Humanitic’ may, of cially acquainted with Elias’s work munication than has been the case in course, be a misprint for ‘humanistic’. and/or who are overly dependent on Civilisation and the Human Subject. However, given Mandalios’s use of the the pre-2000 translation of The Civilis- adjectival form, ‘telic’, instead of the ing Process are liable to fall. Mandalios Eric Dunning noun-form, ‘telos’, when he presuma- berates Elias for ‘neglecting’/‘failing’ to University of Leicester bly means ‘purpose’ or ‘goal’, it is dif- mention’ the part played by religious cult to tell. Hopefully these few exam- orders and monasteries in the European ples are enough to indicate that Civili- civilising process. But Elias’s own sub- sation and the Human Subject appears title for Volume One was ‘Changes of not to have been properly copy-edited or Behaviour in the Secular Upper Classes Barbara A. Misztal, Informality: Social proof-read. That is a pity because John in the West’. Elias did not ‘neglect’ but Theory and Contemporary Practice. Mandalios has some interesting things deliberately chose in the context of Über London: Routledge, 2000. 265 pp. ISBN: to say. den Prozess der Zivilisation not to con- 0-415-15673-4 (hbk); 0-415-15674-2 (pbk). sider, the role of the churches or reli- Mandalios’s central argument is that gion systematically or at length. That From an Eliasian perspective, perhaps mainstream sociologists began to go was to be a later task, perhaps for some- one needs to know little about this book astray when they started to treat ‘socie- one else. beyond its title and subtitle. After a quar- ties’ as if they were bounded and non- ter of a century of increasingly subtle porous ‘social systems’ rather than units Mandalios also tells us that ‘civilising discussions of informalisation and refor- which (i) inuence each other; (ii) form and de-civilising thrusts from “without” malisation, the title Informality instantly parts of ‘civilisational complexes’ which are altogether ignored and denied’ by represents a step backwards, from a proc- also affect each other; and (iii) can Elias. It may be true that, with the excep- essual view to blatant Zustandsreduk- only be fully understood by taking such tion of the Völkerwanderungen of the tion. Misztal’s rst chapter conrms interactions and interpenetrations into so-called ‘Dark Ages’, he ignored them; this, through a static attempt at ‘den- account. It is because they are all con- but to claim that he denied them is ing informality’. The reference to ‘social cerned in their different ways with ‘civ- to comprehend The Civilising Process as theory’ in the sub-title equally instantly ilisations’ rather than ‘societies’ that intended to be a complete and nal theory ags up that this will be a discussion Mandalios seeks to synthesise the part- rather than one contribution to under- not in the fashion of Elias, who sought complementary, part-contradictory work standing among others. Mandalios also throughout his career to show how phil- of Wallerstein, Braudel, Elias, Wight and wrongly asserts that ‘Elias neglects to osophical issues can be transformed Nelson. Since I know it best, I shall use take account of the tumultuous changes into sociological questions susceptible to the work of Elias in an attempt to convey brought on by’ ‘the Reformation and the theoretical–empirical investigation, but how far, in my opinion, he succeeds. Scientic Revolution’. He cannot have rather the opposite: what might be called read the introduction to the 1968 edition the Parsons–Habermas–Giddens tradi- Mandalios’s understanding of Elias is of Über den Prozess, Elias’s work on tion of transforming sociological ques- superior in key respects to those of, ‘scientic establishments’, or be aware tions, under the label of ‘social theory’, e.g., Giddens (1984) and Smith (2000). of the work Elias did for Alfred Weber into philosophoidal ones. In the latter While Giddens and Smith both offer the on the part played by the Italian city respect, Misztal is not the worst example standard misinterpretation of Elias as a states in the development of science. I have met: her concerns stay recog- theorist of ‘unilinear progress’, Mandal- nisably sociological, but she nevertheless ios correctly recognizes that Elias suc- It would, of course, be wrong to dismiss takes the ‘social theory’ route of com- ceeded in developing a multi-levelled, all of Mandalios’s criticisms of Elias paring and contrasting what other people multi-directional and hence more reality- out of hand. I do not agree with it, but have said, and yearning for a diagnosis congruent conceptualisation. Mandalios his contention that Elias overplays the of our times, rather than generating ques- also appreciates, again pace Giddens, role of power is a serious argument and tions for careful theoretical–empirical how Elias managed to avoid ‘Eurocen- certainly worthy of further exploration. investigation. There are scattered refer- trism’. For example, he tellingly quotes Moreover, what Mandalios is able to ences to Elias – to his main discussion Bull and Watson (1984) on this to the tell us via his readings of Wallerstein, of informalisation in Studien über die
10 Figurations Issue No.15 July 2001 Deutschen and to aspects of the theory lenging some of his ideas, such as his have been exhausted. … Cultural theo- of civilising processes – at pp. 22, 42, belief in a transition to ‘romantic love’ ries are not unknown in criminology, but 44–6, 67, 74 and 76–77, but no evidence in this period, and his argument that the they are usually invoked to explain high of very detailed reading or systematic primary female court role was to assist in or increasing levels of violence. … An attempt to use the theory. More surpris- the ‘civilising’ of the male courtiers and important exception is Norbert Elias’s ingly, there is only one passing reference in helping to improve their husbands’ theory of the civilising process.’ He then to Cas Wouters’ work (p. 45), and only social capital. However, Oßwald-Bar- discusses the usefulness of the theory in one of his many essays (which he pub- gende’s broad defence of the court soci- explaining trends in homicide. lished especially in Theory, Culture and ety model does not engage sufciently Society and the Journal of Social History with its recent critics, such as Jeroen Rosenfeld’s chapter is just one symp- in the 1980s and 1990s) on informalis- Duindam and John Adamson. She also tom of an increasingly widespread use ing processes is cited. There are no ref- neglects the current debate on absolutism of Elias’s work among criminologists, erences to the work of Christien Brink- which has implications for her accept- thanks partly to David Garland’s inu- greve, Michel Korzec, Paul Kapteyn, ance of Elias’s concept of a ‘royal mech- ential Punishment and Modern Society or, more recently, Hans-Peter Waldhoff, anism’. Nonetheless, her study greatly (Clarendon Press, 1990). See the brief which have played such a part in making extends our knowledge of female court survey of this criminological literature the debate about informalisation such a power and can serve as a model for by Barry Vaughan above. In the mean- sophisticated one. those wishing to apply the gurational time, I have just one very small quib- SJM approach to the history of early modern ble: I think it is misleading for Rosen- social elites. feld – like the late Lawrence Stone (‘Interpersonal Violence in English Soci- Peter H. Wilson ety, 1300–1980’, Past and Present 101, School of Humanities and 1983: 22–33) – to categorise Elias’s Sybille Oßwald-Bargende, Social Sciences theory simply as a ‘cultural’. As Rosen- Die Mätresse, der Fürst und die Macht: University of Sunderland feld himself implies, ‘cultural’ explana- Christina Whilhelmina von Gräventiz [email protected] tions usually take ‘culture’ as something und die hösche Gesellschaft. Frankfurt/ given, like something in the air or the New York: Campus, 2000. 336 pp. ISBN water that infects people. The theory of 3-593-36637-1. civilising processes, in contrast, seeks to explain how and why changes in culture This published PhD thesis uses the Richard Rosenfeld, ‘Patterns in Adult and habitus arise out of (and in turn feed case study of Christina Wilhelmina von Homicide: 1980–1995’, in Alfred Blum- back into) changes in the social – includ- Grävenitz (1686–1744), a mistress of the stein and Joel Wallman, eds, The Crime ing economic and political – structures duke of Württemberg, to explore female Drop in America. Cambridge: Cambridge of interdependence. political power in early modern Euro- University Press, 2000, pp. 130–63. pean courts. The author draws exten- SJM sively on Norbert Elias’s gurational Rosenfeld demonstrates that: ‘The approach to structure the book around decline in adult homicide in the United three key areas of analysis. The rst part States has been substantial, widespread, examines the guration of the Württem- and enduring. Although such predictions berg court, meaning a study of the court are always hazardous, it does not appear Helmut Kuzmics & Roland Axtmann, as the network of personal relationships to be part of a cyclical process that is Autorität, Staat und Nationalcharakter. and social environment of Christina Wil- likely to turn up soon – if anything, it is Der Zivilisationsprozess in Österreich helmina and her contemporaries. The countercyclical. The adult rates dropped und England 1700-1900. [Figurationen: second analyses the position of individ- during periods of high and low unem- Schriften zur Zivilisations- und Proz- uals within this guration by looking ployment, falling and rising income esstheorie 2] Opladen: Leske + Budrich at how different people related to each levels, and during both the growth and 2000. viii + 427 pp. ISBN: 3-8100- other through chains of interdependency. decline phase of the youth–rearm–vio- 2967-X The main concern here is to determine lence epidemic. It follows that the condi- the position of women in general and tions responsible for the downward trend This is a far-reaching and ambitious mistresses in particular. The third part in adult homicide themselves must be book. It extends Elias’s historical account investigates the nature of this interde- relatively enduring features of the social of the origins of state authority and pendency through a careful study of and political order’. national character from its original, Christina Wilhelmina’s personal rela- largely Francophone base into an analy- tionship with the duke, duchess and her Seeking those relatively enduring fea- sis of English and Austrian sources for brother Friedrich Wilhelm, who ulti- tures, Rosenfeld remarks that ‘If church the period 1700–1900, compares the two mately betrayed her in a court intrigue. is the last refuge of scoundrels, “culture” cultures and suggests how their ndings is the nal recourse of social scientists are exemplied in the two literatures. The conclusions broadly endorse Elias’s in search of explanations when existing That the authors make sense of various model of a court society, whilst chal- economic, social, and political theories works of literature by using the concept
Issue No.15 July 2001 Figurations 11 of national character is ample testimony Kiplings and C.S. Forresters from whom mann and Duerr; Axtmann with other to the strength of the theoretical frame- Kuzmics and Axtmann so productively theorists of state formation; Van Krieken work. They refer not only to canonical, draw their material. Quite apart from the with Parsons; and Smith with Foucault). but to popular literature (a pity the fascinating questions as to whether the authors regard Karl May as the geo- class-structure exported to the colonies is The third group is entitled ‘history of graphically nearest popular author and identical to the home-based system – the civilisation and national habitus (Masten- do not use Sealseld), and occasionally discussion of colonial encounters with broek on negotiation; Buckley on Minne- glance across (as representatives of the the Masai suggest that (p. 247), although sang; Krüger on sport, habitus and state comparison around which the book is much of Kipling’s work (including Stalky formation in Germany; Kuzmics on Aus- constructed) at travellers from one cul- & Co) bases on a critique of traditional tria; and Greiffenhagen on the Germans). ture in the other. Only an ideal reader structures – the literary reader may ques- The nal group of two chapters is con- (certainly not this reviewer) could survey tion to what extent this book offers expla- cerned with the state of research on, and the whole range of the book with equal nations of the consensus about imperi- the reception of, the theory of civilising expertise: clearly, sociologists will read alism which dominated nineteenth-cen- processes (Kuzmics again on criteria for not only the historical sociology but the tury literature, and (more importantly) testing the theory; and Blomert’s report accounts of the literary examples with whether such answers can fairly be on the coverage of Elias’s centenary in prot, while literary scholars will cer- expected from work of this kind. the German press). The book is mainly in tainly greatly benet from the historical German, although the chapters by Roland sociology. Rather than attempt to cover It is a happy day when literary and soci- Axtmann, Robert van Krieken, Dennis the book’s range, this review briey ological studies come together, not in a Smith, Willem Mastenbroek and Ann questions the function which the authors shotgun marriage of fashion and conven- Buckley are published in English. ascribe to literature. ience but in recognition of common pur- poses and methods. This book deserves This volume is the rst in a projected There is no doubt but that the cautionary – quite apart from its sociological public series from Leske & Budrich under the remarks made clear in the introduction – a wide readership in literary studies, title ‘Figurations: Writings on the Theory are well taken. The complexity of litera- and the routes on which the authors of Civilising Processes and Process Soci- ture’s ‘inner data’ on which the sociol- invite their readers to continue to think ology’ (the German title, given above, is ogist may work can hardly be exagger- promise to be as productive as the book more parsimonious than my rough trans- ated, and it is also wise to assume that itself. lation). The second volume in the series, descriptions serve as commentaries, that published simultaneously, is the out- not all reection mirrors, and that a suc- Hugh Ridley standing comparative study of national cessful work of ction will show ‘ten- University College Dublin habitus in Austria and Britain by Helmut dencies rather than a correct reproduc- Kuzmics and Roland Axtmann, reviewed tion of reality’ (p. 23). Whether that dif- above by Hugh Ridley. ferentiation will be meaningful to liter- ary historians (even to those who have SJM abandoned any Hegelian fusion of the Annette Treibel, Helmut Kuzmics and two in the style of Lukács), or whether Reinhard Blomert, eds, Zivilisations- the complex and numerous layers of theorie in der Bilanz: Beiträge zum 100. time which run through the literary work Geburstag von Norbert Elias. Opladen: (Bloch’s analysis of the Ungleichzeit- Leske & Budrich, 2000. 331 pp. ISBN: Kenneth Bishop, Damaged Group Inter- igkeit of so much nineteenth century 3-8100-2038-9. [Figurationen: Schriften dependencies within Conict-Ridden ction offers useful clues here), and, zur Zivilisations- und Prozesstheorie 1] Societies: The Social Construction of nally, whether the origins of the com- the Northern Irish Protestant Habitus. mentaries are not so varied as almost to The papers collected here are from the Unpublished PhD thesis, Queen’s Uni- invalidate the category – literary histo- Elias centenary conference, held at the versity of Belfast, 1999. rians who read this work may need to Zentrum für Interdisziplinäre Forschung, reect on such points. Bielefeld on 20–22 June 1997 (see full Abstract: The Donegall Pass is a Protes- report in Figurations 8), specically tant working class district in South Bel- One particular issue dominates English from Group I, convened by Annette fast. In total the Donegall Pass is appro- literature in the second half of the period Treibel on the theme of ‘Reexion– priately half a mile square with a pop- discussed. It is understandable that the Revision–Future of the Theory of Civilis- ulation of about two thousand mainly authors do not often echo the critique ing Processes’. The rst group of papers Protestant residents. Since the late 1960s which we owe to Edward Said. But deals specically with aspects of Elias’s urban redevelopment and the ‘Troubles’ Said’s interest is in relating high litera- life and work (Hackeschmidt on his early has changed the social geography and ture to low. For him the differentiated Zionism, Merz-Benz on his ‘philosophy personality of the Donegall Pass commu- aesthetes who appeared not to assent to of history’, and Anders on progress and nity. The community views itself as being the violence conducted in the Empire the problem of teleology). The next is con- historically and culturally neglected. in their name are, in their fundamental cerned with Elias in the context of other Residents see themselves still as being assent to this violence, no different to the theories (Hinz comparing him with Mühl- under ‘threat’ from not only the sur-
12 Figurations Issue No.15 July 2001 rounding Roman Catholic communities riences in the sites of destruction a paradox. In daily life many examples but also now from the British govern- from all other mental processes or social can be found of the ongoing ‘emancipa- ment and their own traditional political encounters. For the majority of people tion of emotions’ on the one hand, and representatives. There is a sense in which who are not victims of barbarism, have the rise of the quest for law and order the present community is trying to resus- no participation in it and do not oppose it, on the other. To what extent is the inter- citate a dying age of collective civic the integration of the genocidal violence pretation of informalisation still ade- pride and political power against the in their personal and collective self- quate? In the new material, from Mar- background of the need to survive as a image includes a partial and selective griet 1978–98, principally focused on group, while still trying to retain a cer- decline in mentalising capacity. These sexes and generations, a shift towards tain amount of territorial and personal disorders in mentalisation (‘dysmentali- ‘reformalisation’ can be observed. Limits integrity. sation’) are described in both their psy- are no longer being explored, but once This thesis traces the social construc- chological and social origins. more being emphasised. An increasing tion of this community’s political habitus This article is one of a symposium on discomfort in the collective mind ever from its transition from a vibrant com- De Swaan’ article ‘Dysciviliatie, mas- since the 1980s – related to topics like munity in the early 1960s to the devel- savernietiging en de staat’, AST 26 (3) the economy, unemployment, criminal- opment of its present warrior regime. 1999 (see Figurations 12). Other con- ity, but also emancipation disillusions – It is also argued that the political habi- tributors are Mattijs van den Bosch and is attended by a stronger emphasis on tus of Donegall Pass community can Geert de Vries, and there is a rejoinder conducting and taking account of each be characterised by the continual strug- by De Swaan. English abstracts for these other. Together these changes can be gle for the monopolisation of power and contributions are not available. conceptualised as a shift from ‘psychol- the attempts by the community’s ‘estab- ogisation’ towards ‘sociologisation’, as lished’ Protestant population to defend Cas Wouters and Hans-Peter Waldhoff itself against real and perceived cultural (in his book Fremde und Zivilisierung, ‘outsiders’ and recent political changes 1995) have suggested. The answers in in Northern Irish society. Arjan Post, ‘Is het informaliserings- the agony column no longer give pri- proces van richting veranderd?: “Mar- ority to the exploration of individual griet Weet Raad, 1978–1998”’. [Has the bounds or individual motives. Instead informalisation process changed direc- the societal ‘context’ of problems, rela- tion?: Changes in power balances, morals tions and strivings is stressed. Mean- Wouter Gomperts, ‘Dyscivilisation and and manners in a Dutch agony column, while an ongoing liberation of sexuality dysmentalisation: The derailment of the 1978–1998]. Amsterdams Sociologisch in monogamous relationships can be civilising process from a psychoan- Tijdschrift 27 (4) 2000: 446–76. noticed. People are stimulated to say alytic perspective’. Amsterdams Soci- what they ‘really want’ and to discover ologisch Tijdschrift 27 (3) 2000. Arjan Post’s article presents an interest- ‘new points of view’ – provided that ‘the ing continuation of a discussion about other’ is taken into account. The ‘eman- Is massive organized violence and informalisation processes that has been cipation of emotions’ is, in this case, evi- destruction a manifestation of ‘moder- going on for a quarter of a century. In dent. Together with the rising quest for nity’ or rather its total opposite ‘a break- 1976, Christien Brinkgreve and Michel law and order, this may be dened as down of civilisation’? De Swaan’s con- Korzec posed the question ‘Kan het civ- the paradox of informalisation and refor- cept of ‘dyscivilisation’ transcends this ilisatieprocess van richting veranderen?’ malisation. In this article the two trends opposition: At the core of the civilising (Can the Civilising Process change direc- are interpreted as intertwined. According process, sometimes a contrary current tion? – Amsterdams Sociologisch Tijd- to Norbert Elias, they indicate a shift of manifests itself allowing extreme vio- schrift 3 (3) 1976: 361–4) and followed the We–I balance of individuals towards lence on a mass scale to be perpetrated it up with a book length study of advice the ‘we’. [Supplemented abstract] towards specic categories of people, given from 1938 to 1978 by the agony while civilised relations and modes of aunt in the Dutch women’s magazine SJM expression are maintained in other sec- Margriet (Margriet weet raad, 1978). tions of society. Compartimentalisation Cas Wouters and others entered into is the social arrangement and the psy- the debate, and there emerged a degree chic mechanism par excellence in a of consensus that the so-called ‘permis- dyscivilising society. To maintain it sive society’ did not represent a simple Cas Wouters, ‘Manners’, in Peter N. requires both rigid separations and care- reversal, but rather – in certain respects Stearns, ed., Encyclopaedia of European fully staged passages between the civ- – a complex continuation of the civilis- Social History: From 1350 to 2000, ilised and decivilised emotional and ing process. vol. IV, § 17 ‘Body and Mind’, pp. interactional domains. It is argued that 371–82. New York: Charles Scribner’s for the perpetrators a developmental Post has now examined the advice given Sons, 2000. defect in mentalising capacity or in Margriet over the two decades since In a masterly brief survey, Wouters dis- reective function (‘non-mentalisation’) Brinkgreve and Korzec’s study. In the cusses: the function of manners; the strongly facilitates the perpetrator’s psy- moral alarm that arose in public opinion study of manners (from Huizinga and chological separation of their expe- in the 1980s and 1990s, one can perceive Elias to Curtin, Davidoff, Krumrey and –
Issue No.15 July 2001 Figurations 13 of course – Wouters himself); the period feeling. Central to both was the need to to refer to the main terms and subjects of courts and courtesy; from courtesy to spend more time with women, now seen as listed in the contents: Stenzel gives an etiquette; the expansion of ‘good soci- as key agents of renement. The rela- Introduction and places the philosophy ety’; the formalising process; the twenti- tionship demanded a reworking of what of language in the context of linguis- eth century (a long-term process of infor- it meant to be manly. tics, psychology and psychopathology; malisation with reformalising phases). deals with the limits of language, refer- Being manly and polite was a difcult ring to music and language, to the Laut- SJM balancing act. Rened manliness pre- gesten (= sound gestures), the ‘melody sented new problems for eighteenth-cen- of language’ (or Klanggestalt), and to tury men. What was the relationship the rhythm of language. Language is between politeness and duplicity? Were seen as both denotative and expressive AUTHORS’ feminine actions such as tears and phys- and also as embedded in Gemeinschaft, ANNOUNCEMENTS ical delicacy acceptable or not? Critics community. Then there are chapters on believed polite society led to effeminacy, sentence and words, grammar and its not manliness and condemned this failure relationship to ektierenden Sprachen; of male identity with reference to the fop. on meaning, on metaphors, on Klang Johan Goudsblom, Die Entdeckung des This book reveals the signicance of und Bedeutung (= sound and meaning), Feuers. Frankfurt am Main und Leipzig: social over sexual conduct for eighteenth nally on style, the mother tongue and Insel Verlag, 2000. century denitions of masculinity. It Weltauffassung, a typically German con- This is a re-issue of the Goudsblom’s shows how features traditionally asso- cept. Here, Stenzel deals with the con- Feuer und Zivilisation – or, in English, ciated with nineteenth century models nections between poetic language, the Fire and Civilisation. Welcome as it is were well established in the earlier gure language of everyday life and with lan- to have the book available again, the of the polite town dweller or sentimen- guage and cognition (Erkenntnis). The author did not authorise the change of tal man of feeling. Using personal sto- book (dedicated to Stenzel’s students in title. The title page also announced that ries and diverse public statements drawn Kiel) is certainly a very interesting doc- the book was translated ‘aus dem Nied- from conduct books, magazines, ser- ument and deserves closer scrutiny. erlaendischen’ by Heike Hammer and mons and novels, this is a vivid account Elke Korte. So far as we know, Heike of the changing status of men and mascu- Helmut Kuzmics and Elke do not know much Dutch – they linity as Britain moved into the modern University of Graz translated it from the English, which, in period. any case, Joop Goudsblom wrote simul- taneously with his Dutch version. WORK IN PROGRESS BIBLIOGRAPHICAL RETROSPECT Tom Scheff, University of California Santa Barbara, invites readers of Fig- Philip Carter, Men and the Emergence Julius Stenzel, Philosophie der Sprache. urations to offer their comments and of the Polite Society in Britain 1660-1800. Munich & Berlin: Oldenbourg Verlag suggestions on the following research London, Longman, 2000. 240pp. 1934 project to: [email protected] This book, by the Research Editor of One of Norbert Elias’s schoolteachers at the New Dictionary of National Biogra- the Johannesgymnasium in Breslau was Historical Changes in Emotions in phy, presents an account of masculinity Julius Stenzel, whom he mentioned very Popular Songs in eighteenth century Britain. In partic- favourably in his ‘Notizen zum Leb- Problem: Theorists have argued that ular it is concerned with the impact of enslauf’ as someone who helped raise modern civilisation curtails the expres- an emergent polite society on notions of his interest in the literature of antiquity. sion of emotion. For Freud (1930) civi- manliness and the gentleman. Reinhard Blomert has managed to nd lisation was tantamount to repression of Stenzel’s book recently in a second- feeling and desire. In this vein, Freud From the seventeenth century a new type hand bookseller’s shop in Berlin and I had many followers, such as Reich, Mar- of social behaviour, politeness, was pro- am grateful to him that he has made cuse, and others. Elias (2000) was more moted by diverse writers based on conti- it acessible to me. It seems that this specic, suggesting that modernization nental ideas of renement. It stressed the book (or Stenzel’s thinking as a whole) curtailed expression of anger and there- merits of genuine and generous socia- could have had some relevance for Eli- fore aggression, at least in face-to-face bility as betted a progressive and tol- as’s thinking, particularly for his appli- encounters. He also proposed that the erant nation. Early eighteenth century cation of Gestalttheorie to sociological expression of shame and embarrassment writers encouraged men to acquire the thinking and for his idea of what a Phi- were being curtailed. Another widely characteristics of politeness by becom- losophy of Language is (which might be held thesis asserts a historical shift from ing urbane town gentlemen. Later com- relevant for The Symbol Theory and its shame to guilt. Finally, it has been pro- mentator promoted an alternative cul- terminology. A more thorough discus- posed that curtailment of the expression ture of sensibility typied by the man of sion is not possible here, and I only want of shame leads to violence. These ideas
14 Figurations Issue No.15 July 2001 have been stated only in broad terms, mention ‘inability to establish the rep- word your tenderness grows, tearing my and without convincing evidence. The resentativeness of any given source’ fear apart… The Way You Look Tonight most cogent argument is by Elias (2000), and lack of explicit coding procedures 1936). A few lyrics from the earlier who analysed excerpts from advice man- (‘Often the researcher is forced to period describe the hiding of feeling uals in ve European languages over a reason from brief comments on subtop- (Laughing on the Outside, Crying on the span of seven centuries. But he recog- ics (e.g. temper tantrums), circumlocu- Inside 1946), but there seems to be many nized that his analysis was only sugges- tions, … and from the outright absence more in the later period, such as the fol- tive. of comment where it should be logi- lowing: The hypothesis that modern civilisation cally expected’ 1986, p. 249). The names I pretended I’m glad you went away curtails the expression of emotion, if of most of the many documents they These four walls closin’ more every day true, could be important in many areas, examined are not stated or even enumer- And I’m dying inside such as child-rearing, psychotherapy, ated, and the method of coding anger And nobody knows it but me education, crime control and conict res- not made explicit. For these and other (Nobody Knows 1996). olution. Psychotherapy, for example is reasons, the reliability of their ndings Seemingly absent from the earlier period divided between schools of thought that cannot be assessed. are lyrics that renounce all feeling, like consider emotion (e.g., psychoanalysis, those in ‘What’s Love Got to Do with It? catharsis, Gestalt) and those that do not Another limitation of the Stearns’s study (Who needs a heart when a heart can be (e.g., behaviourist, cognitive, and narra- is that it concerns only anger, leaving broken? Tina Turner 1984) and ‘I am a tive therapies). Findings supporting the out other emotions. Unlike Elias, for Rock’ (Simon and Garfunkel 1965) curtailment hypothesis might imply sup- whom the rising threshold against the I’ve built walls, port for the emotion-oriented therapies, expression of shame was a key feature of A fortress deep and mighty, as well as changes in other areas. the civilising process, the Stearns have That none may penetrate. little to say about shame, its siblings I have no need of friendship; friendship Another example: managing intense and cousins like embarrassment, humili- causes pain. emotions is a key concern in resolving ation, guilt, envy, etc. or grief, fear, pride It’s laughter and it’s loving I disdain. protracted conict. But most current and love. Expert opinion now holds To describe extreme conditions of no training and literature on mediation and that the various emotions interact, par- feeling, in 1986 a new psychiatric diag- conict resolution gives very little atten- ticularly anger with the shame family, nosis was established, alixithymia (Krys- tion to emotions, perhaps making media- contempt and disgust. If we are to tal 1988), because of the increase in the tion less effective than it could be (Retz- study changes in emotional expression, number of such patients. inger and Scheff 2000). Another hypoth- it would be advantageous to include esis is that curtailment of the expression several emotions, not just one. Deter- I would use rst a quantitative, then a of shame gives rise to violence (Gaylin mining simultaneous historical changes qualitative, method to identify emotion 1884; Scheff 1994; Elias 1996; Gilligan in several emotions could discriminate markers, as Lewis did in her magisterial 1996). This idea suggests an inverse cor- between various theses. For example, study of shame and guilt in psychother- relation between changes in the yearly has there been a shift from shame to apy sessions (1971). rates of violent crime and the expres- guilt, or decreasing expression of all the This method will be an actual test of sion of shame. The curtailment hypoth- emotions? the theses discussed above: the Stearns esis is a very general statement about on anger, Elias and others on anger and social process in modern civilisations. Method: For the proposed study, I will shame, and the Freud/Reich/Marcuse I have found only one study that seri- use the top 40 songs on the charts in the hypothesis on all emotions and affects. It ously attempts to document the curtail- US for the last 70 years (1930–99) from will also determine the interrelations of ment thesis, an historical study of atti- the website Lyrics World (2000). Since changes in the numbers of marker of the tudes toward anger in the United States only the most popular songs make the six emotions and affects. These interre- over the last two centuries (Stearns and charts, they form what sociologists call lations would show whether guilt mark- Stearns 1986). They examined a very collective representations, social facts ers increase as shame markers decrease, large number of texts, including advice that extend beyond the desires of par- as has been claimed, and whether anger manuals, diaries, and secondary studies. ticular individuals. These lyrics form a and shame markers decrease together, as Their ndings support the hypothesis bounded and replicable domain. About I (Scheff 1994) and others (Lewis 1971) with regard to anger. They report that 11,000 titles and 9,000 lyrics are avail- have proposed. Finally, I will also deter- early in the nineteenth century, only able on this website. These lyrics repre- mine the correlations between emotion excessive anger was condemned. Right- sent 91% of the total lyrics (that are not markers in lyrics and rates of violent eous anger was not only not condemned, duplicates: very popular songs sung by crimes. These kinds of assessment have but even encouraged. Toward the middle different artists in the same year). never been attempted before. of the nineteenth century, however, they suggest that intolerance of any kind of From the preliminary study that I have References anger began to arise, and continues, carried out, it appears that lyrics for Elias, Norbert, (2000). The Civilising increasingly, into the twentieth century. the period 1930–1960 were much more Process. Revised ed., Oxford: Black- The Stearns admit that their study had likely to mention emotion and feeling well. many shortcomings. For example, they names than later lyrics (e.g.: With each Elias, Norbert, (1996). The Germans:
Issue No.15 July 2001 Figurations 15 Power Struggles in the Nineteenth and lectivity and Individuality in Groups and CONTRIBUTIONS TO Twentieth Centuries. New York: Colum- Organisations’, a topic which is inspired FIGURATIONS bia University Press. by Norbert Elias. Freud, Sigmund, (1930) Civilisation and The next issue of Figurations will be its Discontents. London: Hogarth Press The participants are from Western mailed in November 2001. Gaylin, Willard, (1984) The Rage Within: Europe, from Russia and other Eastern News and notes should be sent to the Anger in Modern Life. New York: Simon European and non-European Countries Editors by 1 October 2001. and Schuster. and represent a wide scope of profes- Gilligan, James, (1996) Violence: Reec- sional backgrounds. The seminar pro- Editor: Stephen Mennell tions on a National Epidemic. New York: vides an opportunity for intercultural Assistant Editor: Aoife Rickard Vintage. learning, bridging boundaries in culture, Editorial Address: Department of Krystal, H., (1988) Integration and Self- language and profession. One group will Sociology, University College Healing: Affect, Trauma, Alexithymia. be conducted in English, the other in Dublin, Beleld, Dublin 4, Ireland. Hillsdale, NJ: Analystic Press. German. Tel. +353-1-706 8504; Lyrics World http://www.summer.com.br/ Fax: +353-1-706 1125. ~plho/summer.html The conference is a non-prot opera- E-mail: [email protected] Lewis, Helen B., (1971) Shame and tion, which means we are trying to keep Guilt in Neurosis. New York: Interna- tuition low. We want to keep the sem- Contributions should preferably be tional Universities Press. inar open for people with only little e-mailed to the Editor, or sent on a Retzinger, S. and T. Scheff, (2000) Emo- money and specially for colleagues from disk (formatted for IBM, not Apple tion, alienation, and narratives: resolv- countries with different socio-economi- Macintosh); Microsoft Word, Rich ing intractable conict. Mediation Quar- cal conditions than ours, for example all Text and plain text les can all be terly (in press). the countries of Eastern and South-east- handled. Do not use embedded foot- Scheff, T. J., (1994) Bloody Revenge: ern Europe. For this aim the organisers notes. Hard copy is accepted reluc- Emotions, Nationalism, and War. Boul- offer partial bursaries and scholarships. tantly. der, CO: Westview. Stearns, Peter, and Carol Stearns (1986) Information: © 2001, Norbert Elias Stichting, Anger: the Struggle for Emotional Con- www.gruppendynamik-dagg.de/isk2001 J.J. Viottastraat 13, 1071 JM trol in America’s History. Chicago: Chi- Europäische Akademie Berlin, Bismarck- Amsterdam, Netherlands. cago University Press. allee 46-48, D–14193 Berlin Tel. +49/+30/8959510, Fax Figurations is printed and mailed +49/+30/89595195, e-mail: by SISWO/Institute for the Social [email protected] Sciences: www.siswo.uva.nl Contact: Dr. Oliver König, Weyertal 13, FORTHCOMING D–50937 Köln Graphic Design and Desktop CONFERENCES Tel/Fax +49 +221 - 426684, email: Publishing: Annette van de Sluis [email protected] (SISWO). E-mail: Collectivity and Individuality in [email protected]. Groups and Organisations 30th International Summer School Researchers, institutes or libraries Berlin, 7–16 August 2001 Decline of violent crime who would like to receive this newsletter should write to the Figu- Group Dynamics Section of the German Richard Rosenfeld, Professor of Crimi- rations address le manager: Gudy Association for Group Psychotherapy nology and Criminal Justice at the Uni- Rooyakkers, SISWO, Plantage Mui- and Group Dynamics (DAGG) versity of Missouri–St. Louis is hoping dergracht 4, 1018 TV Amsterdam, European Academy Berlin to organise a conference on the civilis- The Netherlands. Tel. +31-20-527 ing process and the decline of violent 0600 Fax: +31-20-622 9430. E-mail: The theme of the 30th annual Interna- crime in the USA. We hope to be able [email protected]. Figurations will tional Berlin Summer School, a theme- to notify more specic details in Figura- be sent to them free of charge. centred group dynamics seminar is ‘Col- tions 16.
16 Figurations Issue No.15 July 2001