This edited collection brings together texts that discuss current major
issues in our troubled times through the lens of Norbert Elias's
sociology. It sheds light on both the contemporary world and some of
Elias's most controversial concepts. Through examination of the 'current
affairs', political and social contemporary changes, the authors in this
collection present new and challenging ways of understanding these
social processes and figurations. Ultimately, the objective of the book
is to embrace and utilise some of the more polemical aspects of Elias's
legacy, such as the exploration of decivilizing processes, decivilizing
spurts, and dys-civilization. It investigates to what extent Elias's
sociological analyses are still applicable in our studies of the
developments that mark our troubled times. It does so through both
global and local lenses, theoretically and empirically, and above all,
by connecting past, present, and possible futures of all human
societies.