The civilizing process and the history of sexuality: Comparing Norbert Elias and Michel Foucault

Theory and Society

Volumn 28, Issue 1, 1999, Pages 79-100

  Smith, Dennis ^a  

^a ASTON UNIVERSITY   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0033456111     PISSN: 03042421     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1023/A:1006938626238     Document Type: Article

References (112)

1. An earlier version of the argument was presented at the Norbert Elias Centenary Conference at Bielefeld, Germany in June 1997. At this conference Arpad Szakolcai (European University Institute, Florence) informed me that his own research shows that in the last few years of his life Foucault became acquainted with Elias's work. See A. Szakolczai, "Thinking beyond the East-West divide: Foucault, Patocka, and the care of the self," Social Research, 61/2 (1994), and Szakolczai, Max Weber and Michel Foucault. Parallel Life-Works, (London: Routledge, 1998).
2. An earlier version of the argument was presented at the Norbert Elias Centenary Conference at Bielefeld, Germany in June 1997. At this conference Arpad Szakolcai (European University Institute, Florence) informed me that his own research shows that in the last few years of his life Foucault became acquainted with Elias's work. See A. Szakolczai, "Thinking beyond the East-West divide: Foucault, Patocka, and the care of the self," Social Research, 61/2 (1994), and Szakolczai, Max Weber and Michel Foucault. Parallel Life-Works, (London: Routledge, 1998).
3. Elias, The Civilizing Process (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994), Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol I: An Introduction (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979), Foucault, The Use of Pleasure (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984), The Care of the Self (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984).
4. Elias, The Civilizing Process (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994), Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol I: An Introduction (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979), Foucault, The Use of Pleasure (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984), The Care of the Self (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984).
5. Elias, The Civilizing Process (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994), Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol I: An Introduction (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979), Foucault, The Use of Pleasure (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984), The Care of the Self (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984).
6. Elias, The Civilizing Process (Oxford: Blackwell, 1994), Foucault, The History of Sexuality, Vol I: An Introduction (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1979), Foucault, The Use of Pleasure (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984), The Care of the Self (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1984).
7. Foucault, Discipline and Punish (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1977).
8. For some initial evidence of the plausibility of a comparison between Elias and Foucault, see their discussions of Velasquez's Las Meninas: in Elias, Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987), lii-lxviii, and Foucault, The Order of Things (London: Tavistock/Routledge, 1974). Both use the paiting to illustrate a movement away from the "subject." Also, both Elias and Foucault attach significance to the increasing focus in modernity on the eye as the medium of surveillance, control, and appreciation. Elias: "Just as nature now becomes, far more than earlier, a source of pleasure mediated by the eye, people too become a source of visual pleasure or, conversely, of visually aroused displeasure, of different degrees of repugnance. The direct fear inspired in men by men has diminished, and the inner fear mediated through the eye and through the superego is rising proportionately," The Civilizing Process, 497; Foucault: "The residence of truth in the dark centre of things is linked, paradoxically, to ... [the] sovereign power of the empirical gaze that turns their darkness into light," The Birth of the Clinic, xiii.
9. For some initial evidence of the plausibility of a comparison between Elias and Foucault, see their discussions of Velasquez's Las Meninas: in Elias, Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987), lii-lxviii, and Foucault, The Order of Things (London: Tavistock/Routledge, 1974). Both use the paiting to illustrate a movement away from the "subject." Also, both Elias and Foucault attach significance to the increasing focus in modernity on the eye as the medium of surveillance, control, and appreciation. Elias: "Just as nature now becomes, far more than earlier, a source of pleasure mediated by the eye, people too become a source of visual pleasure or, conversely, of visually aroused displeasure, of different degrees of repugnance. The direct fear inspired in men by men has diminished, and the inner fear mediated through the eye and through the superego is rising proportionately," The Civilizing Process, 497; Foucault: "The residence of truth in the dark centre of things is linked, paradoxically, to ... [the] sovereign power of the empirical gaze that turns their darkness into light," The Birth of the Clinic, xiii.
10. For some initial evidence of the plausibility of a comparison between Elias and Foucault, see their discussions of Velasquez's Las Meninas: in Elias, Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987), lii-lxviii, and Foucault, The Order of Things (London: Tavistock/Routledge, 1974). Both use the paiting to illustrate a movement away from the "subject." Also, both Elias and Foucault attach significance to the increasing focus in modernity on the eye as the medium of surveillance, control, and appreciation. Elias: "Just as nature now becomes, far more than earlier, a source of pleasure mediated by the eye, people too become a source of visual pleasure or, conversely, of visually aroused displeasure, of different degrees of repugnance. The direct fear inspired in men by men has diminished, and the inner fear mediated through the eye and through the superego is rising proportionately," The Civilizing Process, 497; Foucault: "The residence of truth in the dark centre of things is linked, paradoxically, to ... [the] sovereign power of the empirical gaze that turns their darkness into light," The Birth of the Clinic, xiii.
11. For some initial evidence of the plausibility of a comparison between Elias and Foucault, see their discussions of Velasquez's Las Meninas: in Elias, Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987), lii-lxviii, and Foucault, The Order of Things (London: Tavistock/Routledge, 1974). Both use the paiting to illustrate a movement away from the "subject." Also, both Elias and Foucault attach significance to the increasing focus in modernity on the eye as the medium of surveillance, control, and appreciation. Elias: "Just as nature now becomes, far more than earlier, a source of pleasure mediated by the eye, people too become a source of visual pleasure or, conversely, of visually aroused displeasure, of different degrees of repugnance. The direct fear inspired in men by men has diminished, and the inner fear mediated through the eye and through the superego is rising proportionately," The Civilizing Process, 497; Foucault: "The residence of truth in the dark centre of things is linked, paradoxically, to ... [the] sovereign power of the empirical gaze that turns their darkness into light," The Birth of the Clinic, xiii.
12. For some earlier discussions of Elias, see D. Smith, "Norbert Elias - established or outsider?" Sociological Review (1984): 367-389, and The Rise of Historical Sociology (Cambridge: Polity, 1991), 42-54, 157-174.
13. For some earlier discussions of Elias, see D. Smith, "Norbert Elias - established or outsider?" Sociological Review (1984): 367-389, and The Rise of Historical Sociology (Cambridge: Polity, 1991), 42-54, 157-174.
14. See, for example, Elias, The Society of Individuals (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991). For an Eliasian critique of Foucault's analysis in Discipline and Punish, see P. Spierenburg, The Spectacle of Suffering. Executions and the Evolution of Repression (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
15. See, for example, Elias, The Society of Individuals (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991). For an Eliasian critique of Foucault's analysis in Discipline and Punish, see P. Spierenburg, The Spectacle of Suffering. Executions and the Evolution of Repression (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
16. See, for example, Elias, The Society of Individuals (Oxford: Blackwell, 1991). For an Eliasian critique of Foucault's analysis in Discipline and Punish, see P. Spierenburg, The Spectacle of Suffering. Executions and the Evolution of Repression (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1984).
17. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes, with qualifications, "how much this study owes to the discoveries of Sigmund Freud and the psychoanalytical school," 249. Sigmund Freud's Civilization and its Discontents (New York: Dover Publications, 1994) was first published in 1930.
18. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes, with qualifications, "how much this study owes to the discoveries of Sigmund Freud and the psychoanalytical school," 249. Sigmund Freud's Civilization and its Discontents (New York: Dover Publications, 1994) was first published in 1930.
19. Foucault, History of Sexuality. Volume One, 10-13.
20. Elias prepared the book subsequently published as The Court Society (Oxford: Blackwell, 1983), as his Habilitation thesis in 1933.
21. A further volume, Confessions of the Flesh, has not been published. See Use of Pleasu re, 12.
22. A further volume, Confessions of the Flesh, has not been published. See Use of Pleasu re, 12.
23. xv.
24. Ibid.
25. Friedrich Nietzsche, The Birth of Tragedy (New York: Dover Publications, 1995), 53.
26. "And is it accidental that in one of the fragments of Heraclitus ... the phenomenon of truth in the sense of uncoveredness (unhiddenness) ... shows through?" Martin Heidegger, Being and Time (Oxford: Blackwell, 1963), 262.
27. See, for example, Elias, What is Sociology? (London: Hutchinson, 1978), 125-133.
28. See, for example, James Miller, The Passion of Michel Foucault (London: Harper Collins, 1994), chapter eight.
29. Interestingly, the terms "discourse" and "discursive practice" are practically impossible to find in The Use of Pleasure and The Care of the Self. Foucault gave these terms a negative loading in his previous work (e.g., Discipline and Punish). Was he reluctant to use the same language in describing forms of self-control with which he was quite sympathetic? References to "discourse" are plentiful in the first volume of The History of Sexuality, which dealt with the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
30. Interestingly, the terms "discourse" and "discursive practice" are practically impossible to find in The Use of Pleasure and The Care of the Self. Foucault gave these terms a negative loading in his previous work (e.g., Discipline and Punish). Was he reluctant to use the same language in describing forms of self-control with which he was quite sympathetic? References to "discourse" are plentiful in the first volume of The History of Sexuality, which dealt with the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
31. Interestingly, the terms "discourse" and "discursive practice" are practically impossible to find in The Use of Pleasure and The Care of the Self. Foucault gave these terms a negative loading in his previous work (e.g., Discipline and Punish). Was he reluctant to use the same language in describing forms of self-control with which he was quite sympathetic? References to "discourse" are plentiful in the first volume of The History of Sexuality, which dealt with the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
32. Interestingly, the terms "discourse" and "discursive practice" are practically impossible to find in The Use of Pleasure and The Care of the Self. Foucault gave these terms a negative loading in his previous work (e.g., Discipline and Punish). Was he reluctant to use the same language in describing forms of self-control with which he was quite sympathetic? References to "discourse" are plentiful in the first volume of The History of Sexuality, which dealt with the nineteenth and twentieth centuries.
33. See, for example, Use of Pleasure, 109, 152, 204, Care of Self, 4, 193, Civilizing Process, 43, 61, 76.
34. See, for example, Use of Pleasure, 109, 152, 204, Care of Self, 4, 193, Civilizing Process, 43, 61, 76.
35. See, for example, Use of Pleasure, 109, 152, 204, Care of Self, 4, 193, Civilizing Process, 43, 61, 76.
36. Foucault writes: "It would be interesting ... to trace the long history of the connections between alimentary ethics and sexual ethics...; one would need to discover how, over a long period of time, the play of alimentary prescriptions became uncoupled from that of sexual morals. ... In any case, in the reflection of the Greeks in the classical period, it does seem that the moral problematization of food, drink and sexual activity was carried out in a rather similar manner" (Use of Pleasure, 51;
37. see also Care of Self, 141).
38. Ibid., 6, 19.
39. Ibid., 21-23.
40. Ibid., 7.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid., 512.
43. Use of Pleasure, 26-27.
44. Civilizing Process, 473, 476.
45. Care of Self, 85.
46. Ibid., 9.
47. See, for example, Care of Self, 12, 39, 51, 85-86, 103, 148, 167, 178 (Seneca), and Civilizing Process, 417-418, 478-479, 483, 535, 538, 540 (on Saint-Simon).
48. See, for example, Care of Self, 12, 39, 51, 85-86, 103, 148, 167, 178 (Seneca), and Civilizing Process, 417-418, 478-479, 483, 535, 538, 540 (on Saint-Simon).
49. See also Court Society, passim.
50. On "shame and repugnance," see Civilizing Process, 492-498.
51. Ibid., also 445-446.
52. Elias, The Society of Individuals (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1991).
53. Care of Self, 94.
54. Like Elias, Foucault relates these changes to shifts within marriage and the structure of the Roman Empire. He agrees with Elias that marriage became a concern of public law and that most upper-class husbands were unlikely to be active in affairs of state. Like their wives, they were "effectively excluded from this sphere," Elias, "The changing balance of power between the sexes - a process-sociological study: the example of the ancient Roman state," Theory, Culture and Society (1987): 304.
55. Care of Self, 95.
56. Ibid., 67.
57. Elias himself notes that human beings in the classical era recognized the power of passion. In a study of the Greek city states of the fifth century B.C. he comments that expressions of "very high passionateness," for example in the sphere of violence, elicited feelings of wonder combined with "compassion" for those who suffered as a result. See Elias, "The genesis of sport as a sociological problem," in N. Elias and E. Dunning, Quest for Excitement. Sport and Leisure in the Civilizing Process (Oxford: Blackwell, 1986), 145-147.
58. This aspect of Foucault's analysis differs from the equivalent part of the argument in The Civilizing Process where Elias suggests that sexual drives were over time increasingly regarded as repugnant and shameful in themselves.
59. The Christian moral code seems to play a part in Foucault's analysis that is equivalent to the image of homo clausus in Elias's account. Both are treated as burdens upon human beings that inhibit their fuller self-realization. See, for example, Foucault History of Sexuality. Volume One, 159, Elias, Society of Individuals, 56, Civilizing Process, 445.
60. The Christian moral code seems to play a part in Foucault's analysis that is equivalent to the image of homo clausus in Elias's account. Both are treated as burdens upon human beings that inhibit their fuller self-realization. See, for example, Foucault History of Sexuality. Volume One, 159, Elias, Society of Individuals, 56, Civilizing Process, 445.
61. The Christian moral code seems to play a part in Foucault's analysis that is equivalent to the image of homo clausus in Elias's account. Both are treated as burdens upon human beings that inhibit their fuller self-realization. See, for example, Foucault History of Sexuality. Volume One, 159, Elias, Society of Individuals, 56, Civilizing Process, 445.
62. Care of Self, 239.
63. There is insufficient space to explore the parallels and overlaps with Weber but for relevant discussions see Szkolczai, Max Weber and Michel Foucault, and David Owen, Maturity and Modernity. Nietzsche, Weber, Foucault and the Ambivalence of Reason (London: Routledge, 1994).
64. There is insufficient space to explore the parallels and overlaps with Weber but for relevant discussions see Szkolczai, Max Weber and Michel Foucault, and David Owen, Maturity and Modernity. Nietzsche, Weber, Foucault and the Ambivalence of Reason (London: Routledge, 1994).
65. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes that the "increased inwardness and rationalisation" of Protestantism - the "change in religious feeling to which sociology has paid most attention hitherto is obviously closely connected to certain changes in the situation and structure of the middle classes" while the "corresponding change in Catholicism" (e.g., the foundation of the Jesuits) seems to be "in closer touch with the absolutist central organs, in a manner favoured by the hierarchical and centralist structure of the Catholic Church" (494). Elias's reference to the attention paid by sociologists to Protestantism may refer in part to Max Weber's collected essays on the sociology of religion, which were published in 1920 just after Weber's death. This collection included The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976, originally published in 1904-1905). During the 1930s, Elias was operating within an intellectual field in which the memory of Max Weber was powerful. At Heidelberg, Elias has attended the soirées conducted by Weber's widow and he was, for a while, a Habilitation candidate under the sponsorship of Weber's brother, Alfred. See Elias, Reflections on a Life (Cambridge: Polity, 1994), 96-99. For Weber's comments on the Church's influence over the petty-bourgeoisie, the part played by the Humanists in "the transformation of a feudal and clerical education into a courtly culture based on the largesse of patrons," the early Church's rigorous adherence to a "soberly practical rationalism," which "set the tone of a dogmatic and ethical systematisation of the faith," and the Church's deep antipathy to sexuality, see Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1968), 462-463, 513, 554-555, and 60-66 respectively. In The Civilizing Process, Elias makes very few direct references to Weber. See xv, 526 (a critique of Weber on "ideal types"), 529, and 533. There are more references to Weber in The Court Society, e.g., 37-38, 41-42, 63, 85, 110, and 121-122. A genealogical approach to historical analysis assumes that events and forces collide with each other through time in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion leading sometimes to conflict, sometimes to fusion. The historian adopting this approach has to give careful attention to precise individual details on the grounds that this is all there is to be discovered. It would be misleading to look for heuristic or explanatory guidance in terms of some notion of broader encompassing social processes. Foucault adapted the idea of "genealogy" from Nietzsche. See, especially, Foucault, "Nietzsche, genealogy, history," in Paul Rabinow, editor, The Foucault Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 76-100. In practice, Foucault does seem to be working with some idea of "process" in the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, although it is not theorized. For example, he writes that "In the slow development of the art of living under the theme of the care of the self, the first two centuries of the imperial epoch can be seen as the summit of a curve" (Care of Self, 451) and, elsewhere, that "The setting up of the Christian model of marriage [was] ... a slow, belated and difficult occurrence ... in the course of the Middle Ages" (Use of Pleasure, 221).
66. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes that the "increased inwardness and rationalisation" of Protestantism - the "change in religious feeling to which sociology has paid most attention hitherto is obviously closely connected to certain changes in the situation and structure of the middle classes" while the "corresponding change in Catholicism" (e.g., the foundation of the Jesuits) seems to be "in closer touch with the absolutist central organs, in a manner favoured by the hierarchical and centralist structure of the Catholic Church" (494). Elias's reference to the attention paid by sociologists to Protestantism may refer in part to Max Weber's collected essays on the sociology of religion, which were published in 1920 just after Weber's death. This collection included The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976, originally published in 1904-1905). During the 1930s, Elias was operating within an intellectual field in which the memory of Max Weber was powerful. At Heidelberg, Elias has attended the soirées conducted by Weber's widow and he was, for a while, a Habilitation candidate under the sponsorship of Weber's brother, Alfred. See Elias, Reflections on a Life (Cambridge: Polity, 1994), 96-99. For Weber's comments on the Church's influence over the petty-bourgeoisie, the part played by the Humanists in "the transformation of a feudal and clerical education into a courtly culture based on the largesse of patrons," the early Church's rigorous adherence to a "soberly practical rationalism," which "set the tone of a dogmatic and ethical systematisation of the faith," and the Church's deep antipathy to sexuality, see Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1968), 462-463, 513, 554-555, and 60-66 respectively. In The Civilizing Process, Elias makes very few direct references to Weber. See xv, 526 (a critique of Weber on "ideal types"), 529, and 533. There are more references to Weber in The Court Society, e.g., 37-38, 41-42, 63, 85, 110, and 121-122. A genealogical approach to historical analysis assumes that events and forces collide with each other through time in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion leading sometimes to conflict, sometimes to fusion. The historian adopting this approach has to give careful attention to precise individual details on the grounds that this is all there is to be discovered. It would be misleading to look for heuristic or explanatory guidance in terms of some notion of broader encompassing social processes. Foucault adapted the idea of "genealogy" from Nietzsche. See, especially, Foucault, "Nietzsche, genealogy, history," in Paul Rabinow, editor, The Foucault Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 76-100. In practice, Foucault does seem to be working with some idea of "process" in the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, although it is not theorized. For example, he writes that "In the slow development of the art of living under the theme of the care of the self, the first two centuries of the imperial epoch can be seen as the summit of a curve" (Care of Self, 451) and, elsewhere, that "The setting up of the Christian model of marriage [was] ... a slow, belated and difficult occurrence ... in the course of the Middle Ages" (Use of Pleasure, 221).
67. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes that the "increased inwardness and rationalisation" of Protestantism - the "change in religious feeling to which sociology has paid most attention hitherto is obviously closely connected to certain changes in the situation and structure of the middle classes" while the "corresponding change in Catholicism" (e.g., the foundation of the Jesuits) seems to be "in closer touch with the absolutist central organs, in a manner favoured by the hierarchical and centralist structure of the Catholic Church" (494). Elias's reference to the attention paid by sociologists to Protestantism may refer in part to Max Weber's collected essays on the sociology of religion, which were published in 1920 just after Weber's death. This collection included The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976, originally published in 1904-1905). During the 1930s, Elias was operating within an intellectual field in which the memory of Max Weber was powerful. At Heidelberg, Elias has attended the soirées conducted by Weber's widow and he was, for a while, a Habilitation candidate under the sponsorship of Weber's brother, Alfred. See Elias, Reflections on a Life (Cambridge: Polity, 1994), 96-99. For Weber's comments on the Church's influence over the petty-bourgeoisie, the part played by the Humanists in "the transformation of a feudal and clerical education into a courtly culture based on the largesse of patrons," the early Church's rigorous adherence to a "soberly practical rationalism," which "set the tone of a dogmatic and ethical systematisation of the faith," and the Church's deep antipathy to sexuality, see Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1968), 462-463, 513, 554-555, and 60-66 respectively. In The Civilizing Process, Elias makes very few direct references to Weber. See xv, 526 (a critique of Weber on "ideal types"), 529, and 533. There are more references to Weber in The Court Society, e.g., 37-38, 41-42, 63, 85, 110, and 121-122. A genealogical approach to historical analysis assumes that events and forces collide with each other through time in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion leading sometimes to conflict, sometimes to fusion. The historian adopting this approach has to give careful attention to precise individual details on the grounds that this is all there is to be discovered. It would be misleading to look for heuristic or explanatory guidance in terms of some notion of broader encompassing social processes. Foucault adapted the idea of "genealogy" from Nietzsche. See, especially, Foucault, "Nietzsche, genealogy, history," in Paul Rabinow, editor, The Foucault Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 76-100. In practice, Foucault does seem to be working with some idea of "process" in the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, although it is not theorized. For example, he writes that "In the slow development of the art of living under the theme of the care of the self, the first two centuries of the imperial epoch can be seen as the summit of a curve" (Care of Self, 451) and, elsewhere, that "The setting up of the Christian model of marriage [was] ... a slow, belated and difficult occurrence ... in the course of the Middle Ages" (Use of Pleasure, 221).
68. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes that the "increased inwardness and rationalisation" of Protestantism - the "change in religious feeling to which sociology has paid most attention hitherto is obviously closely connected to certain changes in the situation and structure of the middle classes" while the "corresponding change in Catholicism" (e.g., the foundation of the Jesuits) seems to be "in closer touch with the absolutist central organs, in a manner favoured by the hierarchical and centralist structure of the Catholic Church" (494). Elias's reference to the attention paid by sociologists to Protestantism may refer in part to Max Weber's collected essays on the sociology of religion, which were published in 1920 just after Weber's death. This collection included The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976, originally published in 1904-1905). During the 1930s, Elias was operating within an intellectual field in which the memory of Max Weber was powerful. At Heidelberg, Elias has attended the soirées conducted by Weber's widow and he was, for a while, a Habilitation candidate under the sponsorship of Weber's brother, Alfred. See Elias, Reflections on a Life (Cambridge: Polity, 1994), 96-99. For Weber's comments on the Church's influence over the petty-bourgeoisie, the part played by the Humanists in "the transformation of a feudal and clerical education into a courtly culture based on the largesse of patrons," the early Church's rigorous adherence to a "soberly practical rationalism," which "set the tone of a dogmatic and ethical systematisation of the faith," and the Church's deep antipathy to sexuality, see Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1968), 462-463, 513, 554-555, and 60-66 respectively. In The Civilizing Process, Elias makes very few direct references to Weber. See xv, 526 (a critique of Weber on "ideal types"), 529, and 533. There are more references to Weber in The Court Society, e.g., 37-38, 41-42, 63, 85, 110, and 121-122. A genealogical approach to historical analysis assumes that events and forces collide with each other through time in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion leading sometimes to conflict, sometimes to fusion. The historian adopting this approach has to give careful attention to precise individual details on the grounds that this is all there is to be discovered. It would be misleading to look for heuristic or explanatory guidance in terms of some notion of broader encompassing social processes. Foucault adapted the idea of "genealogy" from Nietzsche. See, especially, Foucault, "Nietzsche, genealogy, history," in Paul Rabinow, editor, The Foucault Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 76-100. In practice, Foucault does seem to be working with some idea of "process" in the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, although it is not theorized. For example, he writes that "In the slow development of the art of living under the theme of the care of the self, the first two centuries of the imperial epoch can be seen as the summit of a curve" (Care of Self, 451) and, elsewhere, that "The setting up of the Christian model of marriage [was] ... a slow, belated and difficult occurrence ... in the course of the Middle Ages" (Use of Pleasure, 221).
69. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes that the "increased inwardness and rationalisation" of Protestantism - the "change in religious feeling to which sociology has paid most attention hitherto is obviously closely connected to certain changes in the situation and structure of the middle classes" while the "corresponding change in Catholicism" (e.g., the foundation of the Jesuits) seems to be "in closer touch with the absolutist central organs, in a manner favoured by the hierarchical and centralist structure of the Catholic Church" (494). Elias's reference to the attention paid by sociologists to Protestantism may refer in part to Max Weber's collected essays on the sociology of religion, which were published in 1920 just after Weber's death. This collection included The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976, originally published in 1904-1905). During the 1930s, Elias was operating within an intellectual field in which the memory of Max Weber was powerful. At Heidelberg, Elias has attended the soirées conducted by Weber's widow and he was, for a while, a Habilitation candidate under the sponsorship of Weber's brother, Alfred. See Elias, Reflections on a Life (Cambridge: Polity, 1994), 96-99. For Weber's comments on the Church's influence over the petty-bourgeoisie, the part played by the Humanists in "the transformation of a feudal and clerical education into a courtly culture based on the largesse of patrons," the early Church's rigorous adherence to a "soberly practical rationalism," which "set the tone of a dogmatic and ethical systematisation of the faith," and the Church's deep antipathy to sexuality, see Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1968), 462-463, 513, 554-555, and 60-66 respectively. In The Civilizing Process, Elias makes very few direct references to Weber. See xv, 526 (a critique of Weber on "ideal types"), 529, and 533. There are more references to Weber in The Court Society, e.g., 37-38, 41-42, 63, 85, 110, and 121-122. A genealogical approach to historical analysis assumes that events and forces collide with each other through time in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion leading sometimes to conflict, sometimes to fusion. The historian adopting this approach has to give careful attention to precise individual details on the grounds that this is all there is to be discovered. It would be misleading to look for heuristic or explanatory guidance in terms of some notion of broader encompassing social processes. Foucault adapted the idea of "genealogy" from Nietzsche. See, especially, Foucault, "Nietzsche, genealogy, history," in Paul Rabinow, editor, The Foucault Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 76-100. In practice, Foucault does seem to be working with some idea of "process" in the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, although it is not theorized. For example, he writes that "In the slow development of the art of living under the theme of the care of the self, the first two centuries of the imperial epoch can be seen as the summit of a curve" (Care of Self, 451) and, elsewhere, that "The setting up of the Christian model of marriage [was] ... a slow, belated and difficult occurrence ... in the course of the Middle Ages" (Use of Pleasure, 221).
70. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes that the "increased inwardness and rationalisation" of Protestantism - the "change in religious feeling to which sociology has paid most attention hitherto is obviously closely connected to certain changes in the situation and structure of the middle classes" while the "corresponding change in Catholicism" (e.g., the foundation of the Jesuits) seems to be "in closer touch with the absolutist central organs, in a manner favoured by the hierarchical and centralist structure of the Catholic Church" (494). Elias's reference to the attention paid by sociologists to Protestantism may refer in part to Max Weber's collected essays on the sociology of religion, which were published in 1920 just after Weber's death. This collection included The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976, originally published in 1904-1905). During the 1930s, Elias was operating within an intellectual field in which the memory of Max Weber was powerful. At Heidelberg, Elias has attended the soirées conducted by Weber's widow and he was, for a while, a Habilitation candidate under the sponsorship of Weber's brother, Alfred. See Elias, Reflections on a Life (Cambridge: Polity, 1994), 96-99. For Weber's comments on the Church's influence over the petty-bourgeoisie, the part played by the Humanists in "the transformation of a feudal and clerical education into a courtly culture based on the largesse of patrons," the early Church's rigorous adherence to a "soberly practical rationalism," which "set the tone of a dogmatic and ethical systematisation of the faith," and the Church's deep antipathy to sexuality, see Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1968), 462-463, 513, 554-555, and 60-66 respectively. In The Civilizing Process, Elias makes very few direct references to Weber. See xv, 526 (a critique of Weber on "ideal types"), 529, and 533. There are more references to Weber in The Court Society, e.g., 37-38, 41-42, 63, 85, 110, and 121-122. A genealogical approach to historical analysis assumes that events and forces collide with each other through time in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion leading sometimes to conflict, sometimes to fusion. The historian adopting this approach has to give careful attention to precise individual details on the grounds that this is all there is to be discovered. It would be misleading to look for heuristic or explanatory guidance in terms of some notion of broader encompassing social processes. Foucault adapted the idea of "genealogy" from Nietzsche. See, especially, Foucault, "Nietzsche, genealogy, history," in Paul Rabinow, editor, The Foucault Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 76-100. In practice, Foucault does seem to be working with some idea of "process" in the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, although it is not theorized. For example, he writes that "In the slow development of the art of living under the theme of the care of the self, the first two centuries of the imperial epoch can be seen as the summit of a curve" (Care of Self, 451) and, elsewhere, that "The setting up of the Christian model of marriage [was] ... a slow, belated and difficult occurrence ... in the course of the Middle Ages" (Use of Pleasure, 221).
71. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes that the "increased inwardness and rationalisation" of Protestantism - the "change in religious feeling to which sociology has paid most attention hitherto is obviously closely connected to certain changes in the situation and structure of the middle classes" while the "corresponding change in Catholicism" (e.g., the foundation of the Jesuits) seems to be "in closer touch with the absolutist central organs, in a manner favoured by the hierarchical and centralist structure of the Catholic Church" (494). Elias's reference to the attention paid by sociologists to Protestantism may refer in part to Max Weber's collected essays on the sociology of religion, which were published in 1920 just after Weber's death. This collection included The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976, originally published in 1904-1905). During the 1930s, Elias was operating within an intellectual field in which the memory of Max Weber was powerful. At Heidelberg, Elias has attended the soirées conducted by Weber's widow and he was, for a while, a Habilitation candidate under the sponsorship of Weber's brother, Alfred. See Elias, Reflections on a Life (Cambridge: Polity, 1994), 96-99. For Weber's comments on the Church's influence over the petty-bourgeoisie, the part played by the Humanists in "the transformation of a feudal and clerical education into a courtly culture based on the largesse of patrons," the early Church's rigorous adherence to a "soberly practical rationalism," which "set the tone of a dogmatic and ethical systematisation of the faith," and the Church's deep antipathy to sexuality, see Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1968), 462-463, 513, 554-555, and 60-66 respectively. In The Civilizing Process, Elias makes very few direct references to Weber. See xv, 526 (a critique of Weber on "ideal types"), 529, and 533. There are more references to Weber in The Court Society, e.g., 37-38, 41-42, 63, 85, 110, and 121-122. A genealogical approach to historical analysis assumes that events and forces collide with each other through time in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion leading sometimes to conflict, sometimes to fusion. The historian adopting this approach has to give careful attention to precise individual details on the grounds that this is all there is to be discovered. It would be misleading to look for heuristic or explanatory guidance in terms of some notion of broader encompassing social processes. Foucault adapted the idea of "genealogy" from Nietzsche. See, especially, Foucault, "Nietzsche, genealogy, history," in Paul Rabinow, editor, The Foucault Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 76-100. In practice, Foucault does seem to be working with some idea of "process" in the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, although it is not theorized. For example, he writes that "In the slow development of the art of living under the theme of the care of the self, the first two centuries of the imperial epoch can be seen as the summit of a curve" (Care of Self, 451) and, elsewhere, that "The setting up of the Christian model of marriage [was] ... a slow, belated and difficult occurrence ... in the course of the Middle Ages" (Use of Pleasure, 221).
72. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes that the "increased inwardness and rationalisation" of Protestantism - the "change in religious feeling to which sociology has paid most attention hitherto is obviously closely connected to certain changes in the situation and structure of the middle classes" while the "corresponding change in Catholicism" (e.g., the foundation of the Jesuits) seems to be "in closer touch with the absolutist central organs, in a manner favoured by the hierarchical and centralist structure of the Catholic Church" (494). Elias's reference to the attention paid by sociologists to Protestantism may refer in part to Max Weber's collected essays on the sociology of religion, which were published in 1920 just after Weber's death. This collection included The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976, originally published in 1904-1905). During the 1930s, Elias was operating within an intellectual field in which the memory of Max Weber was powerful. At Heidelberg, Elias has attended the soirées conducted by Weber's widow and he was, for a while, a Habilitation candidate under the sponsorship of Weber's brother, Alfred. See Elias, Reflections on a Life (Cambridge: Polity, 1994), 96-99. For Weber's comments on the Church's influence over the petty-bourgeoisie, the part played by the Humanists in "the transformation of a feudal and clerical education into a courtly culture based on the largesse of patrons," the early Church's rigorous adherence to a "soberly practical rationalism," which "set the tone of a dogmatic and ethical systematisation of the faith," and the Church's deep antipathy to sexuality, see Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1968), 462-463, 513, 554-555, and 60-66 respectively. In The Civilizing Process, Elias makes very few direct references to Weber. See xv, 526 (a critique of Weber on "ideal types"), 529, and 533. There are more references to Weber in The Court Society, e.g., 37-38, 41-42, 63, 85, 110, and 121-122. A genealogical approach to historical analysis assumes that events and forces collide with each other through time in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion leading sometimes to conflict, sometimes to fusion. The historian adopting this approach has to give careful attention to precise individual details on the grounds that this is all there is to be discovered. It would be misleading to look for heuristic or explanatory guidance in terms of some notion of broader encompassing social processes. Foucault adapted the idea of "genealogy" from Nietzsche. See, especially, Foucault, "Nietzsche, genealogy, history," in Paul Rabinow, editor, The Foucault Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 76-100. In practice, Foucault does seem to be working with some idea of "process" in the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, although it is not theorized. For example, he writes that "In the slow development of the art of living under the theme of the care of the self, the first two centuries of the imperial epoch can be seen as the summit of a curve" (Care of Self, 451) and, elsewhere, that "The setting up of the Christian model of marriage [was] ... a slow, belated and difficult occurrence ... in the course of the Middle Ages" (Use of Pleasure, 221).
73. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes that the "increased inwardness and rationalisation" of Protestantism - the "change in religious feeling to which sociology has paid most attention hitherto is obviously closely connected to certain changes in the situation and structure of the middle classes" while the "corresponding change in Catholicism" (e.g., the foundation of the Jesuits) seems to be "in closer touch with the absolutist central organs, in a manner favoured by the hierarchical and centralist structure of the Catholic Church" (494). Elias's reference to the attention paid by sociologists to Protestantism may refer in part to Max Weber's collected essays on the sociology of religion, which were published in 1920 just after Weber's death. This collection included The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976, originally published in 1904-1905). During the 1930s, Elias was operating within an intellectual field in which the memory of Max Weber was powerful. At Heidelberg, Elias has attended the soirées conducted by Weber's widow and he was, for a while, a Habilitation candidate under the sponsorship of Weber's brother, Alfred. See Elias, Reflections on a Life (Cambridge: Polity, 1994), 96-99. For Weber's comments on the Church's influence over the petty-bourgeoisie, the part played by the Humanists in "the transformation of a feudal and clerical education into a courtly culture based on the largesse of patrons," the early Church's rigorous adherence to a "soberly practical rationalism," which "set the tone of a dogmatic and ethical systematisation of the faith," and the Church's deep antipathy to sexuality, see Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1968), 462-463, 513, 554-555, and 60-66 respectively. In The Civilizing Process, Elias makes very few direct references to Weber. See xv, 526 (a critique of Weber on "ideal types"), 529, and 533. There are more references to Weber in The Court Society, e.g., 37-38, 41-42, 63, 85, 110, and 121-122. A genealogical approach to historical analysis assumes that events and forces collide with each other through time in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion leading sometimes to conflict, sometimes to fusion. The historian adopting this approach has to give careful attention to precise individual details on the grounds that this is all there is to be discovered. It would be misleading to look for heuristic or explanatory guidance in terms of some notion of broader encompassing social processes. Foucault adapted the idea of "genealogy" from Nietzsche. See, especially, Foucault, "Nietzsche, genealogy, history," in Paul Rabinow, editor, The Foucault Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 76-100. In practice, Foucault does seem to be working with some idea of "process" in the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, although it is not theorized. For example, he writes that "In the slow development of the art of living under the theme of the care of the self, the first two centuries of the imperial epoch can be seen as the summit of a curve" (Care of Self, 451) and, elsewhere, that "The setting up of the Christian model of marriage [was] ... a slow, belated and difficult occurrence ... in the course of the Middle Ages" (Use of Pleasure, 221).
74. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes that the "increased inwardness and rationalisation" of Protestantism - the "change in religious feeling to which sociology has paid most attention hitherto is obviously closely connected to certain changes in the situation and structure of the middle classes" while the "corresponding change in Catholicism" (e.g., the foundation of the Jesuits) seems to be "in closer touch with the absolutist central organs, in a manner favoured by the hierarchical and centralist structure of the Catholic Church" (494). Elias's reference to the attention paid by sociologists to Protestantism may refer in part to Max Weber's collected essays on the sociology of religion, which were published in 1920 just after Weber's death. This collection included The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976, originally published in 1904-1905). During the 1930s, Elias was operating within an intellectual field in which the memory of Max Weber was powerful. At Heidelberg, Elias has attended the soirées conducted by Weber's widow and he was, for a while, a Habilitation candidate under the sponsorship of Weber's brother, Alfred. See Elias, Reflections on a Life (Cambridge: Polity, 1994), 96-99. For Weber's comments on the Church's influence over the petty-bourgeoisie, the part played by the Humanists in "the transformation of a feudal and clerical education into a courtly culture based on the largesse of patrons," the early Church's rigorous adherence to a "soberly practical rationalism," which "set the tone of a dogmatic and ethical systematisation of the faith," and the Church's deep antipathy to sexuality, see Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1968), 462-463, 513, 554-555, and 60-66 respectively. In The Civilizing Process, Elias makes very few direct references to Weber. See xv, 526 (a critique of Weber on "ideal types"), 529, and 533. There are more references to Weber in The Court Society, e.g., 37-38, 41-42, 63, 85, 110, and 121-122. A genealogical approach to historical analysis assumes that events and forces collide with each other through time in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion leading sometimes to conflict, sometimes to fusion. The historian adopting this approach has to give careful attention to precise individual details on the grounds that this is all there is to be discovered. It would be misleading to look for heuristic or explanatory guidance in terms of some notion of broader encompassing social processes. Foucault adapted the idea of "genealogy" from Nietzsche. See, especially, Foucault, "Nietzsche, genealogy, history," in Paul Rabinow, editor, The Foucault Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 76-100. In practice, Foucault does seem to be working with some idea of "process" in the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, although it is not theorized. For example, he writes that "In the slow development of the art of living under the theme of the care of the self, the first two centuries of the imperial epoch can be seen as the summit of a curve" (Care of Self, 451) and, elsewhere, that "The setting up of the Christian model of marriage [was] ... a slow, belated and difficult occurrence ... in the course of the Middle Ages" (Use of Pleasure, 221).
75. In The Civilizing Process, Elias notes that the "increased inwardness and rationalisation" of Protestantism - the "change in religious feeling to which sociology has paid most attention hitherto is obviously closely connected to certain changes in the situation and structure of the middle classes" while the "corresponding change in Catholicism" (e.g., the foundation of the Jesuits) seems to be "in closer touch with the absolutist central organs, in a manner favoured by the hierarchical and centralist structure of the Catholic Church" (494). Elias's reference to the attention paid by sociologists to Protestantism may refer in part to Max Weber's collected essays on the sociology of religion, which were published in 1920 just after Weber's death. This collection included The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism (London: Allen and Unwin, 1976, originally published in 1904-1905). During the 1930s, Elias was operating within an intellectual field in which the memory of Max Weber was powerful. At Heidelberg, Elias has attended the soirées conducted by Weber's widow and he was, for a while, a Habilitation candidate under the sponsorship of Weber's brother, Alfred. See Elias, Reflections on a Life (Cambridge: Polity, 1994), 96-99. For Weber's comments on the Church's influence over the petty-bourgeoisie, the part played by the Humanists in "the transformation of a feudal and clerical education into a courtly culture based on the largesse of patrons," the early Church's rigorous adherence to a "soberly practical rationalism," which "set the tone of a dogmatic and ethical systematisation of the faith," and the Church's deep antipathy to sexuality, see Weber, Economy and Society (Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1968), 462-463, 513, 554-555, and 60-66 respectively. In The Civilizing Process, Elias makes very few direct references to Weber. See xv, 526 (a critique of Weber on "ideal types"), 529, and 533. There are more references to Weber in The Court Society, e.g., 37-38, 41-42, 63, 85, 110, and 121-122. A genealogical approach to historical analysis assumes that events and forces collide with each other through time in a haphazard and unpredictable fashion leading sometimes to conflict, sometimes to fusion. The historian adopting this approach has to give careful attention to precise individual details on the grounds that this is all there is to be discovered. It would be misleading to look for heuristic or explanatory guidance in terms of some notion of broader encompassing social processes. Foucault adapted the idea of "genealogy" from Nietzsche. See, especially, Foucault, "Nietzsche, genealogy, history," in Paul Rabinow, editor, The Foucault Reader (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986), 76-100. In practice, Foucault does seem to be working with some idea of "process" in the second and third volumes of The History of Sexuality, although it is not theorized. For example, he writes that "In the slow development of the art of living under the theme of the care of the self, the first two centuries of the imperial epoch can be seen as the summit of a curve" (Care of Self, 451) and, elsewhere, that "The setting up of the Christian model of marriage [was] ... a slow, belated and difficult occurrence ... in the course of the Middle Ages" (Use of Pleasure, 221).
76. Use of Pleasure, 12-13.
77. As Foucault explicitly recognizes, this was equality among adult male citizens, not between males and females or between citizens and slaves. See, for example, ibid., 47.
78. Elias was engaged on a parallel mission through his work for the Group Analytic Society. He undertook group therapy sessions, applying the analysis developed in The Society of Individuals. See Reflections on a Life, 63-64.
79. Discipline and Punish, 308.
80. Care of Self, 82-83.
81. Use of Pleasure, 152.
82. Care of Self, 95.
83. Ibid., 82.
84. Use of Pleasure, 29-30. Foucault takes the Socratic term askesis from the work of Plato where it refers to the rigorous training of the body and soul needed to produce self-mastery and self-awareness. Askesis is a form of knowledge that "was not reducible to the mere awareness of a principle." Foucault found that moral conceptions in Greek and Greco-Roman antiquity were much more oriented toward practices of the self and the question of askesis than toward codification of conduct and the strict definition of what is permitted and what is forbidden (Use of Pleasure, 29-30, 72).
85. Use of Pleasure, 29-30. Foucault takes the Socratic term askesis from the work of Plato where it refers to the rigorous training of the body and soul needed to produce self-mastery and self-awareness. Askesis is a form of knowledge that "was not reducible to the mere awareness of a principle." Foucault found that moral conceptions in Greek and Greco-Roman antiquity were much more oriented toward practices of the self and the question of askesis than toward codification of conduct and the strict definition of what is permitted and what is forbidden (Use of Pleasure, 29-30, 72).
86. Elias is quite aware that in medieval Europe, as in the early days of Rome, "Besides fighting potential it was only the possession of magical
87. Elias locates Erasmus's work in "the phase in which the old, feudal knights nobility was still in decline, while the new aristocracy was still in the process of formation." He argues that "This situation gave, among others, the representatives of a small, secular-bourgeois intellectual class, the humanist, and thus Erasmus, not only an opportunity to rise in social station, to gain renown and authority, but also a possibility of candour and detachment that was not present to the same degree either before or afterward. This chance of distancing themselves, which permitted individual representatives of the intellectual class to identify totally and unconditionally with none of the social groups of their world - though, of course, they stood closer to one of them, that of the princes and of the courts, than to the others - also finds expression in De civilitate morum puerilium" (The Civilizing Process, 58-59). The background influence of Mannheim seems evident in this passage.
88. One relevant source of evidence is the work of Dilwyn Knox who has examined school curricula, timetables, and similar documents from the period. On this basis, Knox is able to paint a picture of De Civilitate being used as a strictly enforced manual of pedagogical discipline, imposed through strict monitoring by inspectors, teachers, and prefects. This is a world of pious obedience, mental restraint, and bodily conformity that reminds us of Foucault's carceral society, with its Christian origins, rather than Elias's court with its turbulent warrior past. Much more work needs to be done in respect to the issue to which Elias devoted a mere two pages in the section of The Civilizing Process entitled "A brief survey of the societies to which the texts were addressed," 81-83. See, for example, Knox, "Disciplina: the monastic and clerical origins of European civility" in J. Monfasani and R. G. Musto, editors, Renaissance Society and Culture. Essays in Honor of Eugene F. Rice, Jr. (New York: Italica Press), 1991, 107-135.
89. One relevant source of evidence is the work of Dilwyn Knox who has examined school curricula, timetables, and similar documents from the period. On this basis, Knox is able to paint a picture of De Civilitate being used as a strictly enforced manual of pedagogical discipline, imposed through strict monitoring by inspectors, teachers, and prefects. This is a world of pious obedience, mental restraint, and bodily conformity that reminds us of Foucault's carceral society, with its Christian origins, rather than Elias's court with its turbulent warrior past. Much more work needs to be done in respect to the issue to which Elias devoted a mere two pages in the section of The Civilizing Process entitled "A brief survey of the societies to which the texts were addressed," 81-83. See, for example, Knox, "Disciplina: the monastic and clerical origins of European civility" in J. Monfasani and R. G. Musto, editors, Renaissance Society and Culture. Essays in Honor of Eugene F. Rice, Jr. (New York: Italica Press), 1991, 107-135.
90. One relevant source of evidence is the work of Dilwyn Knox who has examined school curricula, timetables, and similar documents from the period. On this basis, Knox is able to paint a picture of De Civilitate being used as a strictly enforced manual of pedagogical discipline, imposed through strict monitoring by inspectors, teachers, and prefects. This is a world of pious obedience, mental restraint, and bodily conformity that reminds us of Foucault's carceral society, with its Christian origins, rather than Elias's court with its turbulent warrior past. Much more work needs to be done in respect to the issue to which Elias devoted a mere two pages in the section of The Civilizing Process entitled "A brief survey of the societies to which the texts were addressed," 81-83. See, for example, Knox, "Disciplina: the monastic and clerical origins of European civility" in J. Monfasani and R. G. Musto, editors, Renaissance Society and Culture. Essays in Honor of Eugene F. Rice, Jr. (New York: Italica Press), 1991, 107-135.
91. Foucault agrees with this last point but sees "the observer" as the guard in the tower at the center of the Panopticon.
92. See, for example, Court Society, 240-241.
93. Compare Karl Mannheim, Ideology and Utopia (New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1936), 35-38.
94. Society of Individuals, vii-x; What is Sociology? 50-70, Civilizing Process, 484.
95. Society of Individuals, vii-x; What is Sociology? 50-70, Civilizing Process, 484.
96. Society of Individuals, vii-x; What is Sociology? 50-70, Civilizing Process, 484.
97. For the views of someone sympathetic to Elias's perspective but aware of Foucault's critique, it is worth considering Pierre Bourdieu, who argues that "The most advanced fields are the site of ... an alchemy whereby scientific libido dominandi is forcibly transformed into libido sciendi. This is the rationale behind my resistance to a soft consensus which, in my eyes, is the worst possible situation. If nothing else, let us have conflicts!" (interview with Bourdieu in P. Bourdieu and L. Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Cambridge: Polity, 1992), 62-215, 178. See Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic, History of Sexuality. Volume One, Elias, "Problems of involvement and detachment," Britisch Journal of Sociology (1956): 226-252, What is Sociology?, "The sociology of knowledge: new perspectives," Sociology (1971): 149-168. 355-370, "The sciences: towards a theory" in R. Whitley, editor, Social Processes of Scientific Development (London: Routledge, 1974), "Scientific establishments" in N. Elias, H. Martins, and R. Whitley, editors, Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies (London: Reidel, 1982), Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987, introduction and Part 1), Society of Individuals.
98. For the views of someone sympathetic to Elias's perspective but aware of Foucault's critique, it is worth considering Pierre Bourdieu, who argues that "The most advanced fields are the site of ... an alchemy whereby scientific libido dominandi is forcibly transformed into libido sciendi. This is the rationale behind my resistance to a soft consensus which, in my eyes, is the worst possible situation. If nothing else, let us have conflicts!" (interview with Bourdieu in P. Bourdieu and L. Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Cambridge: Polity, 1992), 62-215, 178. See Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic, History of Sexuality. Volume One, Elias, "Problems of involvement and detachment," Britisch Journal of Sociology (1956): 226-252, What is Sociology?, "The sociology of knowledge: new perspectives," Sociology (1971): 149-168. 355-370, "The sciences: towards a theory" in R. Whitley, editor, Social Processes of Scientific Development (London: Routledge, 1974), "Scientific establishments" in N. Elias, H. Martins, and R. Whitley, editors, Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies (London: Reidel, 1982), Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987, introduction and Part 1), Society of Individuals.
99. For the views of someone sympathetic to Elias's perspective but aware of Foucault's critique, it is worth considering Pierre Bourdieu, who argues that "The most advanced fields are the site of ... an alchemy whereby scientific libido dominandi is forcibly transformed into libido sciendi. This is the rationale behind my resistance to a soft consensus which, in my eyes, is the worst possible situation. If nothing else, let us have conflicts!" (interview with Bourdieu in P. Bourdieu and L. Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Cambridge: Polity, 1992), 62-215, 178. See Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic, History of Sexuality. Volume One, Elias, "Problems of involvement and detachment," Britisch Journal of Sociology (1956): 226-252, What is Sociology?, "The sociology of knowledge: new perspectives," Sociology (1971): 149-168. 355-370, "The sciences: towards a theory" in R. Whitley, editor, Social Processes of Scientific Development (London: Routledge, 1974), "Scientific establishments" in N. Elias, H. Martins, and R. Whitley, editors, Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies (London: Reidel, 1982), Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987, introduction and Part 1), Society of Individuals.
100. For the views of someone sympathetic to Elias's perspective but aware of Foucault's critique, it is worth considering Pierre Bourdieu, who argues that "The most advanced fields are the site of ... an alchemy whereby scientific libido dominandi is forcibly transformed into libido sciendi. This is the rationale behind my resistance to a soft consensus which, in my eyes, is the worst possible situation. If nothing else, let us have conflicts!" (interview with Bourdieu in P. Bourdieu and L. Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Cambridge: Polity, 1992), 62-215, 178. See Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic, History of Sexuality. Volume One, Elias, "Problems of involvement and detachment," Britisch Journal of Sociology (1956): 226-252, What is Sociology?, "The sociology of knowledge: new perspectives," Sociology (1971): 149-168. 355-370, "The sciences: towards a theory" in R. Whitley, editor, Social Processes of Scientific Development (London: Routledge, 1974), "Scientific establishments" in N. Elias, H. Martins, and R. Whitley, editors, Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies (London: Reidel, 1982), Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987, introduction and Part 1), Society of Individuals.
101. For the views of someone sympathetic to Elias's perspective but aware of Foucault's critique, it is worth considering Pierre Bourdieu, who argues that "The most advanced fields are the site of ... an alchemy whereby scientific libido dominandi is forcibly transformed into libido sciendi. This is the rationale behind my resistance to a soft consensus which, in my eyes, is the worst possible situation. If nothing else, let us have conflicts!" (interview with Bourdieu in P. Bourdieu and L. Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Cambridge: Polity, 1992), 62-215, 178. See Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic, History of Sexuality. Volume One, Elias, "Problems of involvement and detachment," Britisch Journal of Sociology (1956): 226-252, What is Sociology?, "The sociology of knowledge: new perspectives," Sociology (1971): 149-168. 355-370, "The sciences: towards a theory" in R. Whitley, editor, Social Processes of Scientific Development (London: Routledge, 1974), "Scientific establishments" in N. Elias, H. Martins, and R. Whitley, editors, Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies (London: Reidel, 1982), Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987, introduction and Part 1), Society of Individuals.
102. For the views of someone sympathetic to Elias's perspective but aware of Foucault's critique, it is worth considering Pierre Bourdieu, who argues that "The most advanced fields are the site of ... an alchemy whereby scientific libido dominandi is forcibly transformed into libido sciendi. This is the rationale behind my resistance to a soft consensus which, in my eyes, is the worst possible situation. If nothing else, let us have conflicts!" (interview with Bourdieu in P. Bourdieu and L. Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Cambridge: Polity, 1992), 62-215, 178. See Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic, History of Sexuality. Volume One, Elias, "Problems of involvement and detachment," Britisch Journal of Sociology (1956): 226-252, What is Sociology?, "The sociology of knowledge: new perspectives," Sociology (1971): 149-168. 355-370, "The sciences: towards a theory" in R. Whitley, editor, Social Processes of Scientific Development (London: Routledge, 1974), "Scientific establishments" in N. Elias, H. Martins, and R. Whitley, editors, Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies (London: Reidel, 1982), Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987, introduction and Part 1), Society of Individuals.
103. For the views of someone sympathetic to Elias's perspective but aware of Foucault's critique, it is worth considering Pierre Bourdieu, who argues that "The most advanced fields are the site of ... an alchemy whereby scientific libido dominandi is forcibly transformed into libido sciendi. This is the rationale behind my resistance to a soft consensus which, in my eyes, is the worst possible situation. If nothing else, let us have conflicts!" (interview with Bourdieu in P. Bourdieu and L. Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Cambridge: Polity, 1992), 62-215, 178. See Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic, History of Sexuality. Volume One, Elias, "Problems of involvement and detachment," Britisch Journal of Sociology (1956): 226-252, What is Sociology?, "The sociology of knowledge: new perspectives," Sociology (1971): 149-168. 355-370, "The sciences: towards a theory" in R. Whitley, editor, Social Processes of Scientific Development (London: Routledge, 1974), "Scientific establishments" in N. Elias, H. Martins, and R. Whitley, editors, Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies (London: Reidel, 1982), Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987, introduction and Part 1), Society of Individuals.
104. For the views of someone sympathetic to Elias's perspective but aware of Foucault's critique, it is worth considering Pierre Bourdieu, who argues that "The most advanced fields are the site of ... an alchemy whereby scientific libido dominandi is forcibly transformed into libido sciendi. This is the rationale behind my resistance to a soft consensus which, in my eyes, is the worst possible situation. If nothing else, let us have conflicts!" (interview with Bourdieu in P. Bourdieu and L. Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Cambridge: Polity, 1992), 62-215, 178. See Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic, History of Sexuality. Volume One, Elias, "Problems of involvement and detachment," Britisch Journal of Sociology (1956): 226-252, What is Sociology?, "The sociology of knowledge: new perspectives," Sociology (1971): 149-168. 355-370, "The sciences: towards a theory" in R. Whitley, editor, Social Processes of Scientific Development (London: Routledge, 1974), "Scientific establishments" in N. Elias, H. Martins, and R. Whitley, editors, Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies (London: Reidel, 1982), Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987, introduction and Part 1), Society of Individuals.
105. For the views of someone sympathetic to Elias's perspective but aware of Foucault's critique, it is worth considering Pierre Bourdieu, who argues that "The most advanced fields are the site of ... an alchemy whereby scientific libido dominandi is forcibly transformed into libido sciendi. This is the rationale behind my resistance to a soft consensus which, in my eyes, is the worst possible situation. If nothing else, let us have conflicts!" (interview with Bourdieu in P. Bourdieu and L. Wacquant, An Invitation to Reflexive Sociology (Cambridge: Polity, 1992), 62-215, 178. See Foucault, The Birth of the Clinic, History of Sexuality. Volume One, Elias, "Problems of involvement and detachment," Britisch Journal of Sociology (1956): 226-252, What is Sociology?, "The sociology of knowledge: new perspectives," Sociology (1971): 149-168. 355-370, "The sciences: towards a theory" in R. Whitley, editor, Social Processes of Scientific Development (London: Routledge, 1974), "Scientific establishments" in N. Elias, H. Martins, and R. Whitley, editors, Scientific Establishments and Hierarchies (London: Reidel, 1982), Involvement and Detachment (Oxford: Blackwell, 1987, introduction and Part 1), Society of Individuals.
106. See, for example, Eric Fromm, The Fear of Freedom (London: Routledge, 1942) and Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization (Boston: Beacon Press, 1955). For Foucault on the Frankfurt School, see Foucault, Remarks on Marx (New York: Semiotext[e], 1991), 115-129.
107. See, for example, Eric Fromm, The Fear of Freedom (London: Routledge, 1942) and Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization (Boston: Beacon Press, 1955). For Foucault on the Frankfurt School, see Foucault, Remarks on Marx (New York: Semiotext[e], 1991), 115-129.
108. See, for example, Eric Fromm, The Fear of Freedom (London: Routledge, 1942) and Herbert Marcuse, Eros and Civilization (Boston: Beacon Press, 1955). For Foucault on the Frankfurt School, see Foucault, Remarks on Marx (New York: Semiotext[e], 1991), 115-129.
109. See, for example, Sennett, The Fall of Public Man (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977) and Flesh and Stone (London: Faber and Faber, 1994).
110. See, for example, Sennett, The Fall of Public Man (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1977) and Flesh and Stone (London: Faber and Faber, 1994).
111. Nathanson's development of Tomkins's approach is presented in Shame and Pride. Affect, Sex and the Birth of the Self (New York: Norton, 1992). On Elias, see 437-448.
112. For a contrasting perspective, see Robert van Krieken, "The organisation of the soul: Elias and Foucault on discipline and the self," Archives Européennes de Sociologie (1990): 353-371.