Elias's contribution to the sociology of the body
the rediscovery of the hinge
pp. 287-303
in: Jan Haut, Paddy Dolan, Dieter Reicher, Raul Sánchez García (eds), Excitement processes, Berlin, Springer, 2018Abstract
The chapter explains how Elias's text on the "rediscovery" of the body clarifies his perspective on biological and physical aspects of human beings. Against dualistic concepts of body and mind, a figurational approach shows how learned and unlearned behaviour, and "automatic" and deliberate self-controls are intertwined. Applications of the "hinge" are presented and implications for current research on the sociology of the body are discussed.
