The book focuses on major aspects of Norbert Elias's social theory through research on supposed “minor” topics, such as manners, sports, leisure and cultural practices. While many of his publications became essential for scholars in the different disciplines concerned, the development of the figurational approach towards these fields was not always completed. The edited volume picks up some lose ends by including archive manuscripts by Elias on the genesis of sport, developments of cultural practices, and the sociology of the body, which are published here for the very first time. Based on critical reviews of these texts, international experts show how the new material adds up to Elias’s oeuvre and how it can be fruitfully applied to current research.

Discusses classical Greek wrestling, the English foxhunt, medieval ball games, and modern soccer, and examines the psychological, sociological, and biological aspects of sports

How do figurational sociologists approach the subjects of sport and leisure? How does their approach differ from other approaches in the field? This major collection, edited by leading writers on sport and leisure, offers a superb introduction to the figurational sociology of sport and leisure. The distinctive features of the approach are clearly explained and contributors show how figurational sociology is applied in the analysis of concrete problems. However, the collection also gives space to critics of the figurational approach. Included here are contributions which claim that the approach is inaccurate, blinkered and irrelevant.

Our ancestors gathered around a fire in a circle, families gather around their kitchen tables in circles, and now we are gathering in circles as communities to solve problems. The practice draws on the ancient Native American tradition of a talking piece. Peacemaking Circles are used in neighborhoods to provide support for those harmed by crime and to decide sentences for those who commit crime, in schools to create positive classroom climates and resolve behavior problems, in the workplace to deal with conflict, and in social services to develop more organic support systems for people struggling to get their lives together. A title in The Little Books of Justice and Peacebuilding Series.

Researchers from Europe and the US summarize the current state of the major appraisal theories, critically assess their basic assumptions, and review research methods and representative results.

A state-of-the-art review of original research, this book includes discussions of intramolecular photoadditoin of nucleophiles, electrophiles, and radical species to the activated aromatic ring; new methods for regio-, anantio-, and diastereoselective photooxygenations involving singlet oxygen mechanisms; and applications of microreactors for photochemical synthesis of large-ring compounds, photochemical rearrangement, photocycloaddition, and chiral photochemical synthesis. It covers the role of layered inorganic solids in the construction, characterization, and analysis of supramolecular assemblies of metal ions, molecules, metal complexes, and proteins, and more.