E.01. Bringing Elias Back To School (And Beyond): Figurational And Processual Perspectives On Education In Troubled Times

Norbert Elias’ figurational theory represents a unique approach across social sciences. Conceptualizing reality as long-term processes of interdependence linking institutions with individual personality, the Eliasian legacy provides critical insights into the ambivalent role of education in contemporary (anti)democratic transformations of society (Gabriel, 2024). The ongoing nature of social processes, the notions of ‘tension balance’, ‘power’, ‘civilizing’ / ‘de-civilizing’ and ‘social habitus’ are pivotal in figurational analysis (Dunning, Hughes, 2013). In troubled times, with ‘functional democratization’ threatened by rising tensions, mistrust in rational-scientific thinking and polarization, ‘learning to think with Elias’ regains crucial importance (Delmotte, Górnicka, 2021).

This panel brings Elias back to school – and beyond – to address three main issues:

- How do the long-term and mid-term evolutions of educational systems contribute to the democratization of society and to the reduction of social inequalities? And to what extent does formal education fuel anti-democratic and unequal orientations?

-       In a period of endemic conflicts – social, global, military – how does curricular as well unofficial education participate in social pacification dynamics?

- What are the socializing spaces and practices – especially targeting young people – that develop alongside formal educational and civil sphere and trigger divergent processes, from participation functional to civic life to populism and radicalism?

We welcome contributions from sociology, anthropology, history, psychology, education and Law. Proposal of particular interest are those ones that combine Elias with alternative processual perspectives in order to shed light on how democratic and egalitarian dispositions are daily taught, transformed or eroded.