Reviews for Norbert Elias on civilization, power, and knowledge

The average rating for Norbert Elias on civilization, power, and knowledge based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2008-07-04 00:00:00 Billy Safe This book is a typical academic product: The selected, and to some degree digested essays of an intellecual all-star. For me it was a great introduction, especially considering the length of some of his individual works. Interesting to compare to Foucault and Bourdieu. Probably because Elias was born in 1897, and was therefore a full generation older, there is a psychologism, even a flirtation with social psychology, in his work. In a sense, this brings to light some of what was at stake, but was not made explicit in Foucault. Elias was a first-class historicist thinker, whose interests ranged from the sociology of sports (and their ancient origins) to the analysis of etiquette. I haven't been able to put the book down for the past three days.

Review # 2 was written on 2015-02-21 00:00:00 Mike Bruns Treatises on morality in politics and religion in the West in the latter half of the 20th century. Some of it was over my head as I don't have the classical education to appreciate many of his references. But I did appreciate what I took time to read carefully and understand, particularly the later essays concerning ideology and politics, the validity of Christian tradition and of democracy in an increasingly technological world, and the methods and effects of totalitarianism upon its citizens. Not an easy read but a rewarding one.