Johan Goudsblom

Johan Goudsblom (1932-2020) was Professor of Sociology at the University of Amsterdam from 1968 to 1997. He collaborated with the man who did so much to inspire him, Norbert Elias, whose ideas were the basis of the new science of figurational sociology. Goudsblom further developed this form of sociology into the study of long-term developments. He described how humans dealt with fire and time from the dawn of humanity to the present day, drawing on insights from a wide range of other scientific disciplines.