Civilizing Process 2e - by Norbert Elias (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

The Civilizing Process stands out as Norbert Elias' greatest work, tracing the "civilizing" of manners and personality in Western Europe since the late Middle Ages by demonstrating how the formation of states and the monopolization of power within them changed Western society forever.

From the Back Cover

The Civilizing Process stands out as Norbert Elias' greatest work, tracing the 'civilizing' of manners and personality in Western Europe since the Middle Ages, and showing how this was related to the formation of states and the monopolization of power within them. It comprises the two volumes originally published in English as The History of Manners and State Formation and Civilization, now, in a single volume, the book is restored to its original format and made available world-wide to a new generation of readers.

In this new edition, the original text is extensively revised, corrected, and updated. The Revised Edition reveals anew and afresh the greatness of Elias' masterpiece.

Review Quotes

"Without doubt the most important piece of historical sociology since Max Weber." Richard Sennett, London School of Economics.

"A modern classic of the first order." Lewis Coser.

"Elias has all the boldness and sureness of touch of the old masters, of whom he is perhaps the last. Reading his pages one again and again makes the mental note that this or that point is worthy of a Max Weber ... One realises from a book like this that serious sociology must remain dependent on the insightful interpretation of history of just the kind that Elias provides." Bryan Wilson.

"The most remarkable recent attempt to contain the social and the individual within a unified scheme of sociological analysis." Philip Abrams

"The Civilizing Process is remarkable: eclectic, insightful and constantly surprising." Times Higher Education Supplement

About the Author

Norbert Elias (1897-1990) taught at the University of Frankfurt until his exile from Hitler's Germany. In Britain, he worked at the Universities of London and Leicester, and in retirement was visiting professor in Ghana, Amsterdam, Munster, Bielefeld and many other universities. By the time of his death he was recognized as one of the outstanding social scientists of the twentieth century. His previous Blackwell books include: The Norbert Elias Reader, The Court Society, The Loneliness of the Dying, Involvement and Detachment, Time: An Essay, The Society of Individuals and, with Eric Dunning, Quest for Excitement.