Aims

By the end of this course, students will be able to:
- re-situate the intellectual path of a sociological writer;
- link the various concepts that characterise this writer's work;
- resituate his/her contributions in relation to those of contemporary sociology;
- summarise a work by him/her in the form of a "critical reading note" (note de lecture critique).

Main themes

- To develop a knowledge and understanding of a sociological writer so that students can have a correct approach to the ways in which sociological work is put together.
- To analyse the dimensions of the corpus of work (e.g. observation, investigatory work and historical work) mobilised by the writer in relation to the development of his/her work.
- To situate this work in relation to the contemporary "individual-society" and "actor-system" debate and its various off-shoots.
- To mobilise the various concepts in the framework of the sociological "engagement-distancing" posture.

Content and teaching methods

Content
The writer to be analysed will be Norbert Elias. Five aspects of his work will be examined:
1. notions of interdependence and configuration;
2. the formation of the state and its relationship to violence;
3. the process of civilisation (development of the concept of civility, the construction of self-constraints, and the logic of etiquette);
4. "established-outsiders" relationships and logics of exclusion;
5. knowledge, philosophy and the relationship with science (the epistemological posture of the writer, and the "engagement-distancing" debate.
Methodology
The methodology of the course will be based on professorial talks followed by question-and-answer sessions. Work will be divided between the teacher and the students as follows: the teacher will present Elias's intellectual path and his main work (the process of civilisation), and students will be invited to choose one of the writer's books, and to read it with a view to enriching the course.

Other information (prerequisite, evaluation (assessment methods), course materials recommended readings, ...)

Pre-requirements: After acquiring a basic grounding in sociology, and following Course SOC 2135 ("Research logics") (sociology).
Assessment: This will take the form of a 10-page "critical reading note" (note de lecture critique) on the "engagement-distancing" posture set out in the works of Norbert Elias.
Support: Books and articles by Norbert Elias.

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