Abstract
In this chapter I will try to analyze why some of the criticisms leveled at Elias’s thought seem to proceed from a misunderstanding or misinterpretation. In doing so I do not intend to defend any orthodoxy, or to claim any supposed infallibility of his thought, which merits, as any other, to be discussed in some respects. For example, one could be critical regarding the status of his sources (since the difference between observation and prescription practices is not always clearly specified), his interpretation of prohibitions (which may indicate either the importance of a practice or its delegitimization), or the empirical falsifiability of such a very general model as his (Heinich 1997).
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© 2013 François Dépelteau and Tatiana Savoia Landini
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Heinich, N. (2013). Five Misunderstandings of Elias’s Thought. In: Dépelteau, F., Landini, T.S. (eds) Norbert Elias and Social Theory. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137312112_3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137312112_3
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