Etablerade och outsiders

by Norbert Elias, John L. Scotson, Anita Sandberg (Translator)

Vad sker i ett vanligt bostadsområde i en engelsk industristad när en grupp nyinflyttade arbetare från London försöker anpassa sig till stadsdelen? Följden blir en konflikt och maktkamp mellan "etablerade", de gamla familjerna, och de nyinflyttade, "outsiders", om hur man ska bete sig för att bli accepterad. Den etablerade gruppen utövar sin makt genom förtal och skvaller. Genom att brännmärka en stökig minoritet i outsidergruppen blir hela gruppen moraliskt stigmatiserad som mindre värd.

Norbert Elias (1897--1990) var en av 1900-talets mest betydande sociologer. Han visar på ett fascinerande sätt hur moralisk stigmatisering är en allmänt förekommande maktteknik varhelst det finns en konflikt mellan en etablerad och dominerande grupp och en underordnad, dominerad grupp; mellan bofasta och invandrare, vita och svarta i USA, högkastiga och kastlösa indier, män och kvinnor, välbeställda och fattiga.

I en efterskrift till denna andra, utvidgade upplaga återfinns Elias sista bidrag till Etablerade och outsiders. Det är en skarpsinnig analys av maktförhållandet mellan vita och svarta i USA, utifrån Harper Lees roman Dödssynden från 1960.

Gunnar Olofsson presenterar i ett förord Norbert Elias och klarlägger hur teorin om etablerade och outsiders kan användas för att förstå dagens värld och konflikter.

Genres: Sociology, Nonfiction, Academic, Social Science, History

293 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1965

About the author

Norbert Elias was a German-Jewish sociologist who later became a British citizen, though he is often referred to as a Dutch thinker, and made his home in Amsterdam in his latter years.

Elias's theory focused on the relationship between power, behavior, emotion, and knowledge over time. He significantly shaped what is called process or figurational sociology. Due to historical circumstances, Elias had long remained a marginal author, until being rediscovered by a new generation of scholars in the 1970s, when he eventually became one of the most influential sociologists in the history of the field.

(Some text from Wikipedia licenced under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License)

Reviews

[Bell Puã · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lendo de novo, percebo que essa obra de Norbert Elias é provavelmente a maior contribuição dele para a área de humanidades. Gosto do Processo Civilizatório, mas segundo minha orientadora, Norbert Elias se perde quando traça os costumes da corte na Idade Moderna, sem falar que é Weberiano (nada contra, só discordo do essencialismo cultural da obra)... Mas Os Estabelecidos e os Outsiders tem grande valia para qualquer historiador, um trabalho quase antropológico diria... vale muito apena a leitura.

[Eleutheria A.cl · Rating 4 out of 5]

Norbert Elias always did such a great job on explaining the interdependent social relationship. Just, this one does not expand from the perspective of history and culture study of typical European continental scholar preference but rather a more empirical one, based upon a social inquiry and investigation of a small town with certain problematic idiosyncrasies in real life.
Elias doesn't lost his iconic insight and sensibility under such a micro-perspective, exploring the psychological elements within the complementary relationship between the "established" and "outsiders" which he argues widely exists under differed disguises and often being mistaken as other kinds of problems thanks to the over-confidence of statistical method widely exercising in modern sociology studies, and how such phenomenon of interdependence works. He opposes the arrogance and imprudence to categorize one as good the other evil, because they are real individuals trapped in a configuration works itself. It's not about property, economy, classes, ideology, history, race and ethics, it is a way how society deems to work as long as the human psychological issues still linger, as long as individuals still form society of interaction. He doesn't offer a way out, because that's actually how civilization processes, by understanding it, maybe, optimally, some control on its maliciousness and cruelty could be managed--but who knows, it's a relationship being highly complementary and dynamic rather than a static statistical fact.
Yep, not quite a political correct piece you are looking for actually.

P.s: the inquiry-theory style of this one is like Elias-dainty style goes extreme, it is interesting and rich, but also kinda exhausting.

[Ronaldo Lima · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interessante como o Elias transforma um estudo pequeno, localizado, em uma possibilidade de análise mais geral sobre nossas relações de diminuição e controle do outro.

É possível sempre encarar a pequena comunidade de Winston Parva como um microcosmo para nossas interrelações grupais. Mas, o autor toma o cuidado de não criar generalidades. E mais importante que isso não fazer juízos de valor sobre nenhum estrato social da comunidade.

O mais importante aqui é fazer uma análise sociológica de um pequeno espaço e disso tirar lições para outros estudos futuros. E nisso os autores são muito bem sucedidos.

[Adriana Mendonça · Rating 3 out of 5]

"Não se pode aplicar à valoração das maiorias como sociologicamente mais mais significativas do que as minorias"

[Mikael C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lärorik bok!

[Nina! · Rating 2 out of 5]

Superintressanta tankar och ämnen! Dock inte värd att läsa. Läs förordet och inget mer

[Lisa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Å ena sidan oerhört intressant — jag är mitt uppe i sociologstudier och jag har intresserat mig mycket för social stratifiering. Boken tar upp sådant som så lätt går under radarn gällande för just social stratifiering.
Däremot är det också däri min kritik ligger; i att jag är mitt uppe i mina studier. Vi har fått lära oss vikten av metod, och här framkommer det inte riktigt. Hur har informationen nåtts? Det nämns snabbt att intervjuer gjorts, men inte hur de gjorts. Vilka observationer har gjorts av invånarna i staden som studeras?

Som bok att läsa uppskattar jag den otroligt mycket. Men studenten i mig är frustrerad. Minst sagt

[ehk2 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Once again, Elias' mastery in connecting sociology with psychology shows itself in this study of group dynamics in a small, modern-day English neighbourhood. It is the similar 'configurational sociology' theory applied to the court of Louis XIV in 'Court Society' or the Middle Ages in 'The Civilising Process'.

Repetitive sometimes, but great insight on group formation, exclusion, stigmatisation, denigration, gossip structures, delinquency, etc.
Its relevance will never diminish.

Untypical of Elias, he passingly notes that "the dreams of nations (as of other groups) are dangerous" (xliv).
I agree but it sounds a bit too pessimistic. They're dangerous, but we cannot live without them.

[Michael · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book because I was interested in the topic and this book is often mentioned as a classical reference study. This book provides insights on an important topic. I like that the focus is on a real world example that is described in a good level of detail. In order to see patterns and perhaps alternative histories of two-community dynamics, I would find it interesting to see similar studies on a broader set of cases.

[Francisco Reis · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clássico exemplo de sociologia empírica e de como operaram as relações de poder, as formas de estigmatização e preconceito social numa comunidade segmentada em três zonas. A operacionalidade dos conceitos, seja quando se trata de indivíduos seja à sociedade como um todo, mostra aqui, mais uma vez, o perspicaz psicólogo social que Norberto Elias era e já o demonstrara no Processso Civilizador.

[Natalie (CuriousReader) · Rating 2 out of 5]

I read this for school, but it was interesting (although a bit too repetitive for my taste).