Perché la sociologia non può non essere storica: la lezione di Norbert Elias

The relationship between sociology and history is a long-standing issue. During the development of the two disciplines, periods of greater closeness and mutual interest have alternated with ones in which the dialogue has become so weak to leave almost no trace. As for sociology, the main trends have removed the historical dimension of social phenomena in favour of modelling formulas, «retreated into the present» with some ambition to predict the future. Norbert Elias’ lesson goes in a completely different direction. He promotes a sociology that invites us to consider the variability of human experience and to trace the structural dynamics visible in it. Two guidelines can highlight the intrinsic historicity of Elias’s sociology: that of the insuppressible changefulness of human life – of movement marking any individual and collective experience; and that of the need to adopt the point of view of everyday life, that observes concrete human beings, as they live day by day in specific times and spaces. This article starts discussing the ways in which the boundaries between history and sociology have been drawn to highlight Norbert Elias’ definition of sociology and how it differs from «historical sociology». Then, it also deals with the analytical conceptual tools of «figurational sociology». Finally, it presents examples of some of the studies Elias conducted to provide possible empirical translations of the sociological use of history in his research, that is, of the inevitable presence of history in his sociological epistemology.

Keywords: Sociology and history; Figuration; Everyday life.