The dawn of detachment

This article draws on Elias’s observations on the origins of political economy and sociology as well as his theory of involvement and detachment to supplement standard accounts of the history of sociology. It shows how, in the 1840s, sociology bifurcated into two tracks. Track I was the highly ‘involved’ partisan track associated with Marx and Engels and track II was the relatively ‘detached’, non-partisan track pursued by Saint-Simon, Comte, Lorenz von Stein and others. These two tracks continue to shape contemporary sociology as basic orientations. The polarization of class conflict predicted in Marx’s theory is contrasted with the class interdependence model in Lorenz von Stein, in particular. Elias’s work is understood as a synthesis of later developments in track II in which he strongly reaffirmed the historical separation of sociology from philosophy. Elias’s work is presented as a central theory of society and as a promising alternative to the prevailing practice of theoretical eclecticism in sociology

Eclecticism · Epistemology · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Sociology of culture · Contemporary Sociological Theory and Practice · Law · Philosophy · Social and Cultural Dynamics · Sociology and Norbert Elias

• Revisiting Hargreaves

  Open Access•Andrew Webb•British Journal of Sociology of…•2026

  Incluir item

• Robert Park and Norbert Elias's contributions to ethnic and racial studies

  Open Access•Andrew Webb•Sociology Compass•2024

  Incluir item

• Housing Benefit Reform and the Private Rented Sector in the UK

  Ryan Powell•Housing Theory and Society•2015

  Incluir item

• Process sociology, the English School, and postcolonialism – understanding ‘civilization’ and world politics

  Open Access•Andrew Linklater•Review of International Studies•2017

  Incluir item

• From distance to detachment

  Open Access•Richard Kilminster•Sociology of Norbert Elias•2004

  Incluir item

• Towards a ‘central theory’

  Open Access•Stephen Quilley, Steven Loyal•Sociology of Norbert Elias•2004

  Incluir item

• Keywords (Routledge Revivals)

  Raymond Williams•Keywords•2013

  Incluir item

• The American Civilizing Process

  Stephen Mennell•Norbert Elias and Human…•2001

  Incluir item

• The Condition of the Working-Class in England in 1844

  Open Access•Friedrich Engels, Florence Kelley Wischnewetzky•Condition of the Working-Class in…•2010

  Incluir item

• Capitalism, Socialism and Democracy

  Gaël Fain, Joseph Alois Schumpeter et al.•Capitalism, socialism, and…•2010

  Incluir item

• From the Standpoint of Eternity

  Open Access•Richard Kilminster•Theory Culture & Society•1983

  Incluir item

• Can the Study of Public Administration do without a Concept of the State

  Open Access•Mark R Rutgers•Administration & Society•1994

  Incluir item

• The Sociological Revolution

  Eric Woodrum, Richard Kilminster•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•2003

  Incluir item

• The History of the Social Movement in France, 1789-1850

  William H Harbold, Lorenz Von Stein et al.•The Western Political Quarterly•1966

  Incluir item

• Reason and Revolution

  John Somerville, Herbert Marcuse•Philosophy and Phenomenological…•1956

  Incluir item

• Dialectical Idealism and the Work of Lorenz von Stein

  Open Access•John Weiss•International Review of Social…•1963

  Incluir item

• Auguste Comte and Positivism

  Donald N Levine, Gertrud Lenzer•Contemporary Sociology A Journal…•1977

  Incluir item

• The Social and Political Thought of Adam Ferguson

  H J Hanham, David Kettler•The Philosophical Quarterly•1966

  Incluir item

• A short history of sociological thought

  Open Access•Tom Meisenhelder•The Social Science Journal•2001

  Incluir item

• Norbert Elias

  Richard Kilminster•Norbert Elias•2007

  Incluir item

• The Sociological Tradition

  Robert A Nisbet, Robert Nisbet et al.•The Sociological Tradition•2017

  Incluir item

• Lorenz von Stein and the Paradigmatic Bifurcation of Social Theory in the Nineteenth Century

  Joachim Singelmann, Peter Singelmann•British Journal of Sociology•1986

  Incluir item

• Human Figurations

  Duncan Mitchell, P R Gleichman et al.•British Journal of Sociology•1979

  Incluir item

• Origins of Sociology

  Alan Swingewood•British Journal of Sociology•1970

  Incluir item

• Lorenz Von Stein and his Contribution to Historical Sociology

  Kaethe Mengelberg•Journal of the History of Ideas•1961

  Incluir item

• Norbert Elias's Post-Philosophical Sociology

  Open Access•Richard Kilminster•The Sociological Review•2011

  Incluir item

• The Normative Structure of Sociology

  Michael A Overington, Hermann Strasser•Social Forces•1977

  Incluir item