Norbert Elias, maritime supremacy and the naval profession

On Elias' unpublished studies in the genesis of the naval profession

Bibliographic Data

ID2139125
AuthorsRené Moelker (0000-0003-2815-5955, Netherlands Defence Academy, corresponding author), Ren X E Moelker (corresponding author), Ren&#x000E9 Moelker
Year2003
Volume54
Issue3
Pages373-390
Publication date2003-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueBritish Journal of Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0007-1315 • E-ISSN: 1468-4446
PublisherWiley (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1111/j.1468-4446.2003.00373.x
PMID14514464
OpenAlexW2160672697
LanguageEN
Citations received5
References cited11

In 1950 Norbert Elias published the first of three studies on ‘The Genesis of the Naval Profession’ in the British Journal of Sociology. At the time Elias was not the established scholar that he was to become in later days. In the 1950s his work on the ‘Naval Profession’ was not well received by the audience, even though all the major themes of the ‘civilizing process’ were interwoven in the article. The other two studies were never published in English journals (only one was published in a Dutch journal but received no international attention). A perusal of the Norbert Elias Archive in Marbach am Neckar in Germany ‐ shows that the ‘Naval Profession’ project is larger than the intended three part series of articles for the BJS. From an outline to the project found in the archive it can be concluded that Elias intended to write a book with six to seven chapters. The key to the studies is a sketchy theory of institutions, which states that conflict promotes institutional development. Through the conflict between two occupational groups, sailors and soldiers, the naval officer becomes institutionalized as a new profession. During the period this process takes place England acquires maritime supremacy, secures the passages to the colonies and becomes an empire

Aesthetics · Empire · Management · Navy · Officer · Period (music · Political science · Sociology · Classics · History · Law · Philosophy · Sociology and Norbert Elias