Pierre Bourdieu
French sociologist and public intellectual
Pierre Bourdieu was a French sociologist who studied how power and social position shape everyday life. He wrote Distinction, his best-known book.
1 summary 35 min of listening
French Born 1930 in Denguin, France Died 2002
Influenced by Michel Foucault, Max Weber, Karl Marx, Ludwig Wittgenstein, Jean-Paul Sartre, Immanuel Kant
About Pierre Bourdieu
Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) was born in Denguin, France, and became a sociologist and public intellectual. He was a professor in Paris, at the Collège de France and at the School for Advanced Studies in the Social Sciences. His research looked at how power is passed between generations and how social classes hold on to their privileges. He introduced concepts such as habitus, cultural capital and symbolic violence. His best-known book is Distinction, first published in 1979, which argues that judgments of taste reflect a person's place in society. It combines social theory with survey data, photographs and interviews. Bourdieu wrote around three dozen books. His honors include the Huxley Medal from the Royal Anthropological Institute.