ABSTRACT
Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) was a French sociologist whose work has been widely influential in both the social sciences and humanities. He was born in Denguin in rural southwestern France where his father was a postal worker. Bourdieu received a scholarship that enabled him to attend the prestigious Lycée Louis-le-Grand in Paris. He subsequently enrolled at the École normale supérieure, where he studied with Louis ALTHUSSER. After graduating with a degree in philosophy, Bourdieu taught first at high school level. In 1959 he was appointed to a position in philosophy at the Sorbonne, after which he taught at the University of Paris from 1960 to 1964. In 1964 he was named director of studies at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales and founded the Centre de sociologie de l’éducation et de la culture. In 1982 he was named chair of sociology at the Collège de France. He received the Médaille d’or (Gold Medal) from the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS) in 1993.
