Against a new transcendental monster: Poor elias in Brazil and the dilemmas of figurational sociology

This work discusses the epistemological relevance of the “civilizing process” concept to understand cultural aspects of non-Europeans societies. Following the debates within the field of Figurational Sociology over the relevance of using ‘civilizing processes’ or ‘process’, the idea is to develop the theoretical implications of using such a theoretical model in the Brazilian socio-historical context.  Drawing from Brazilian contemporary discussions on Elias’ theory, mainly in fields of Sports and Education, rather than Sociology, the objective is to understand how the ‘civilizing process’ has been constructed to ‘fit’ in our particularity. Is it possible that in order to understand the balance of emotions, this usage of the idea of civilizing process concept is creating a kind of universal, all-encompassing process - another transcendental monster? Trying to criticize such interpretations of Elias’ work that transcendentalizes a theory that is, in fact, radically historical in its core, we try to point some elements that could help to clarify the link between the foundations of civilizing processes theory and empirical research through the idea of a ‘strong sociological agenda’.