Joannes Van Gestel is a research fellow at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

• List of figures Acknowledgements Contents of this book Sociology as a relatively autonomous discipline Understanding Elias The uncertainty of the social scientist Science and knowledge The complexity and simplicity of reductionism Sport and sportization Basic levels of integration – natural and physical constraints Natural constraints Physical constraints Evolution Human biological characteristics The nervous system Psychological constraints Components of the psychological make-up Innate functions Innate amoral functions Learned functions Learned drive-generating functions Moral functions Learned drive-resolution functions‘Polymorphous’ functions Memory Affection Social constraints Power and figurations On power and games Figurations Types of human social bonds Economic bonds Political bonds Affective bonds On the (non)existence of cognitive bonds Types of social enclaves The commingling of constraints and the tasks of the sociologist The variables of the sociologist On problems with the artificial macro-meso-micro categorization Defining identities and social units The direction of social processes Blind social processes (un)Intended actions and consequences On the civilizing directions of history In The Civilizing ProcessTowards a theory of civilizing, decivilizing and informalizing processes On the extent of civilizing processes The principles of civilizing processes The Spare time spectrum and the need for deroutinization Process sociology and (de)routinization in social enclavesThe process of deroutinization The investigation of historical processes in sport and leisure Sportization The philosopher’s approach The conventional approach of the sociologist The creation of an optimal tension balance in sport Towards a reorientation of the concept of sportization ReferencesSubject and author index

Joannes Van Gestel is a research fellow at the Faculty of Social Sciences of the University of Antwerp, Belgium.

• List of figures Acknowledgements Contents of this book Sociology as a relatively autonomous discipline Understanding Elias The uncertainty of the social scientist Science and knowledge The complexity and simplicity of reductionism Sport and sportization Basic levels of integration – natural and physical constraints Natural constraints Physical constraints Evolution Human biological characteristics The nervous system Psychological constraints Components of the psychological make-up Innate functions Innate amoral functions Learned functions Learned drive-generating functions Moral functions Learned drive-resolution functions‘Polymorphous’ functions Memory Affection Social constraints Power and figurations On power and games Figurations Types of human social bonds Economic bonds Political bonds Affective bonds On the (non)existence of cognitive bonds Types of social enclaves The commingling of constraints and the tasks of the sociologist The variables of the sociologist On problems with the artificial macro-meso-micro categorization Defining identities and social units The direction of social processes Blind social processes (un)Intended actions and consequences On the civilizing directions of history In The Civilizing ProcessTowards a theory of civilizing, decivilizing and informalizing processes On the extent of civilizing processes The principles of civilizing processes The Spare time spectrum and the need for deroutinization Process sociology and (de)routinization in social enclavesThe process of deroutinization The investigation of historical processes in sport and leisure Sportization The philosopher’s approach The conventional approach of the sociologist The creation of an optimal tension balance in sport Towards a reorientation of the concept of sportization ReferencesSubject and author index