Balansując na marginesach. O strategii intelektualnej Norberta Eliasa

This text is an interpretation of Norbert Elias’s biography, his autobiographical writings, and certain aspects of his work in light of Patrick Baert’s positioning theory. Beginning from a critical analysis of the story of Elias’s life, career, and scholarship, through a reconstruction of the typical properties of his writing style and academic abilities, the author uses Elias to describe an intellectual strategy which she calls ‘balancing on the margins’. She considers it a legitimate strategy for maintaining oneself in the academic field—under certain conditions more productive and less risky than a strategy aimed at occupying a central position in the academic field.