Einleitung

Affekte und Affektkontrolle in der Moderne

Abstract

English abstract: In his paradigmatic historical-sociological description of the modern process of (Western) civilisation, Norbert Elias has stressed the role of modulating and regulating mechanisms of self-restraint and control of affects which have characterized the emergence of the modern individual. Due to his argument, the body served as a major point of reference and object within this early modern process. However, this did not imply any genuine perspective of a history of the body which has been inspired by Michel Foucault and successive poststructuralist approaches. Yet, from a perspective of such approaches to body history, a historisation and problematisation of the sociological master narrative on the supposed civilisation of the modern subject is needed in particular with regard to the 19th and 20th centuries. This introductory article explores different aspects of this perspective.