Back to the Future: Education, Education, and Education

In this chapter we will explore an overlooked example of a successful university department in the past—the Department of Sociology at the University of Leicester—which seems to have been unusually dynamic and vital from the late 1950s to the early 1970s. Our argument is that the dialogue between Elias and Neustadt was a source of creative tension for a number of years which built the structure of a unique department that developed an innovative learning environment. We will focus on the contribution Norbert Elias made to this department which paved the way for the next generation of British sociologists, investigating the following three main areas: teaching, employing new staff, and research seminars.