Thinking with Elias using the Collected Works

Abstract

The Collected Works of Norbert Elias was completed in 2014, making available the largest collection of Elias’s writing in English to date. Although many have used particular aspects of the Collected Works in their research, there has not yet been a discussion which has used the entire set. This article explores my using the entire Collected Works as a dataset, comments on the particular approach to reading employed in doing so, and details the learning that resulted. Key advantages gained from this approach to using Elias’s work are discussed around the example of figuration as this was shaped and became re-shaped in a recent research project.