Apologia pro vita sociologica sua: social character and historical process, and why I became an Eliasian sociologist

Abstract

Here I offer some reflections on how my own career was shaped by my encounter with Norbert Elias and his brand of sociology; my ‘conversion’ may not have been regarded quite as scandalous by the British sociological establishment, but it was certainly considered eccentric. Let me break down my career into phases – a ‘phaseology’ of the type that Joop Goudsblom (1996) advocates– and try to explain why the connection between ‘social character’ and ‘historical process’ has been a Leitmotiv in my thinking.