Richard Kilminster is an Honorary Research Fellow in Sociology in the School of Sociology and Social Policy, at the University of Leeds. He has published widely on the sociology of knowledge and the work of Norbert Elias.

Introduction: The Greatness of SociologyPart One - Figurational-Process Sociology: Synthesis and Vocation Chapter 1 The Dawn of Detachment: Norbert Elias and Sociology's Two Tracks Chapter 2 Karl Marx: New Perspectives Chapter 3 Norbert Elias's Post-Philosophical Sociology: From "Critique"to Relative Detachment Chapter 4 How Has a Post-Philosophical Sociology Become Possible? Chapter 5 From Distance to Detachment: Knowledge and Self-knowledge in Elias's Theory of Involvement and Detachment Part Two - Overcritique or Social Diagnosis? Chapter 6 Critique and Overcritique in Sociology Chapter 7 Overcritique and Ambiguity in Zygmunt Bauman's Sociology: A Long-Term Perspective Chapter 8 Narcissism or Informalization? Christopher Lasch, Norbert Elias and Social Diagnosis Chapter 9 Informalization, Sociological Theory and Social Diagnosis Addendum: On The Process of Becoming a Sociologist