International Figurational Studies

What does "Figurational Studies" signify?

"Figurational Sociology" or "Process Sociology" are terms which became attached to a research tradition strongly influenced by the work of Norbert Elias (1897-1990), author of the modern classic The Civilising Process (originally published in german in 1939) and more than a dozen subsequent books. His ideas have been taken up, developed, and expanded in scope by an extensive international network of scholars who are by no means all sociologists - they are also drawn from history, anthropology, political science, psychology and literary and cultural studies. They tend to share a certain scepticism towards conventional disciplinary boundaries, and for that reason this Website uses the general term "Figurational Studies".

The Website is still under construction, and provisionally contains the following pages:

A biographical sketch of Norbert Elias (1897-1990)
Some principles and major research themes of "figurational studies" and "process sociology"
Multi-lingual bibliography of Norbert Elias's writings
Some principal figures in the international Figurational Studies research network
Society as Process: A Bibliography of Figurational Sociology in the Netherlands to 1989. (Compiled by Willem Kranendonk)
Downloadable Back Issues of Figurations: the Newsletter of the Norbert Elias Foundation:
1. Figurations 1 June 1994
2. Figurations 2 November 1994
3. Figurations 3 June 1995
Plans for the Norbert Elias Centenary in 1997