Informalization: Manners and Emotions since 1890

“Pints or half‐pints”: Gender, functional democratization, and the consumption of drink in Ireland

“…That they seem to have felt comfortable in making these open displays of distinction and superiority to a female journalist without any significant embarrassment are indicative of a habitus in which little shame was attached to such feelings. It also reflects an unequal power disparity (Wouters, 2007) and illustrates the ideals of masculinity then pervading, and the position and status of drinking within this ideal.…”

“…To that extent, aspects of the national we-image and we-identity has been relatively (male) gendered. Of course, national habitus' are re-shaped by the greater integration of outsider groups (including women) over time (Wouters, 2007). But, given the longevity of a power balance in which the ratio strongly favored men the national habitus reflects male values and thinking to a much greater extent that women.…”

“…In this paper, I draw from Elias's (2009, 2012a, 2012b) and Wouters (2007, 2019) work concerning the concept of functional democratization to consider changes in the gender power balance and simultaneously changes in the consumption of alcohol in relation to women in Ireland from the early twentieth century up to the present. Elias first used the phrase functional democratization in his book What is Sociology?…”

Informalization, ways of engagement and class habitus in the development of MMA

“…Basically, there were two opposing postures: for those such as Van Bottenburg & Heilbron (2006), MMA (No Holds barred in its early nomenclature) was a clear symptom of deportivization, a decivilizing trend within sport. On the contrary, for Sánchez García & Malcolm (2010), the development of MMA attended to a process of informalization (Wouters 2007(Wouters , 2011, a specific kind of civilizing trend. Informalization entails a wider variety of behaviors expressed in more moderate, flexible and controlled forms and can, thus, be seen as a complex form of civilizing process.…”

“…fighting on foot or on the floor, striking or grappling) did not mean a step back to the more brutal early stages of Greek Pankration when death in the arena was assumed and glorified (Elias, 2008). On the contrary, the combination of an increased range of permissible combat techniques without an overall increase in the level of violence suggests an informalizing pattern, MMA fighters exhibiting a habitus characterized by significant "controlled decontrolling of emotional controls" (see Wouters, 2007, Apendix II for a whole discussion on this expression).…”