Norbert Elias

The emergence of the professional naval officer was related both to the necessities of naval warfare and to the structure of society on land. Originally, warships were manned by two separate sets of commanders: gentleman soldiers skilled in fighting, and 'tarpaulins' of humbler social origin skilled in navigation and the manual skills of sailing. Elias traces the onboard conflicts between...

The Civilizing Process stands out as Norbert Elias' greatest work, tracing the 'civilizing' of manners and personality in Western Europe since the Middle Ages. It shows how this development was related to the formation of states and the monopolisation of power within them. It comprises the two volumes originally published in English as The History of Manners and State Formation...