ABSTRACT
Norbert Elias is one of sociology’s best-read protagonists and made his mark on the general sociological world with publications such as What Is Sociology? (1978), The Established and the Outsiders (with J. L. Scotson, 1965), The Germans (with Michael Schröter and Eric Dunning, 1996) and especially his most famous work, The Civilizing Process (1939). The stream of thought that characterized his work was termed ‘figurational sociology’ although, according to Johan Goudsblom, Elias himself was fonder of the term ‘process sociology’ (Jarvie, 2006, p. 26). Even though the term ‘figurational sociology’ is what is most widely used (and was therefore the reason for its inclusion in the title of this book), it will be referred to within the text as ‘process sociology’ because of Elias’s apparent preference for that term. This is not done in a discriminating fashion and is with all due respect for the term ‘figurational sociology’. Notwithstanding such fame within sociological circles, it is in the sociology of sport and leisure that Elias is perhaps most revered. Often in association with Eric Dunning, Elias made it clear that this area of investigation deserved to be treated with seriousness and that it deserved a place on the sociological curriculum. They were not wrong; and with problems such as burn-out, stress and depression at the heart of today’s sociological discussions, this is where the sociology of sport and leisure ought to be too.
