ABSTRACT
Becker seldom refers to the more general level of social history. The approach to philosophy known as pragmatism is beginning to become known in France and elsewhere in Europe. Broadly speaking, American pragmatism is a branch of Anglo-Saxon philosophy which is interested in questions of aesthetics, of popular culture and of music. Becker has immersed himself in this tradition, without much citing it, since his days as a student: Chicago was a center for its diffusion, if not for its development. Becker insists that the phenomena of classification and the imposition of educational standards never have immediate effects. Becker leans rather toward observing, and listening to discussions, among the dominant classes, mainly in the interest of probing and challenging their implicit resistance to social transparency. Empirical sociologists know that enormous changes will take place in the course of their research and its publication, extending over five or six years.
