Norbert Elias

The heart of assimilation process of absorbing minorities lies in the self-image of a nation. There are, as you will know, big…

— Norbert Elias

Debating the concept of race does not mean that I in any way regard this as a quarrel between neighbors over where…

— Norbert Elias

One has to give minority groups a kind of reward, an emotional reward, that it is worthwhile assimilating to this particular majority…

— Norbert Elias

Perhaps one could appoint three or four professional people specially concerned with the task of bridge building between the majority and the…

— Norbert Elias

The natives of England are closing their doors to relationships with Asians and Africans or, for that matter, Turks and Spaniards. While…

— Norbert Elias

I wish you all the pleasurable excitement one can have without hurting others and one's own dignity.

— Norbert Elias

Assimilation, a certain uniformity of conduct, is necessary in a multi-party state.This is not only a requirement to the established majority; it…

— Norbert Elias

The way one behaves and feels as a Dutchman and Dutchwoman is the result of a long development. It is by no…

— Norbert Elias

I have touched here on a problem that is masked if one speaks of racism. And that is the fact that the…

— Norbert Elias

Scientific modes of thought cannot be developed and become generally accepted unless people renounce their primary, unreflecting, and spontaneous attempt to understand…

— Norbert Elias

I would like to remind you that both assimilation and integration apply to the working classes in the nineteenth century, at least…

— Norbert Elias

Of course you can more easily recognise the outsiders because they have a different skin color. But let us take for instance…

— Norbert Elias

The number of those who have to be assimilated to the majority is not too high. It remains small compared with the…

— Norbert Elias

Perhaps I should say that in general there are three solutions to such a situation. I mean not only in Holland, but…

— Norbert Elias

Very often people who live in a ghetto accept some of the stigmatisation against them. I mention the case of a Japanese…

— Norbert Elias

When Benjamin Disraeli spoke of the 'two nations' in Britain he was perfectly right, only the working classes were not exactly a…

— Norbert Elias

The integration in Germany was made easier by the fact that I am probably of the third generation. So I have undergone…

— Norbert Elias

I think that one not only has to make demands on the established group, but one also has to make demands on…

— Norbert Elias

“Death is a problem of the living. Dead people have no problems.”

— Norbert Elias