Norbert Elias: A proposed intellectual portrait for the 20th anniversary of his passing (1990-2010) (DOI: 10.2436/20.3000.02.2)

Abstract

In the summer of 1990, one of the most eminent sociologists of the 20th century, the German Norbert Elias, died in Amsterdam. His profoundly interwoven life and work are a reflection of the complexity – the light and shade – of the past century. With this proposed intellectual portrait on the 20th anniversary of his death, we are attempting offer a snapshot a figure and a body of work which, because of its magnitude and originality, undoubtedly deserves to be considered among the most important in sociology. As the thread running through this portrait, we propose a combination of the physical and symbolic places, spaces and people, events and connections that marked a long life and academic career which was little known and largely unrecognised until his later years. It is a career which unquestionably constitutes one of the most outstanding and attractive legacies that the sociology of the past century has passed on to new generations of social science researchers.

Key words: Norbert Elias, intellectual portrait, sociology

Original source: Papers. Revista de Sociologia, 96(2): 285-308 (2011)