It was his military service in Algeria that moved him from philosophy to sociology. “The Inheritors” showed how school reproduces inequality, “Distinction” that what we like tells where we come from. In 1993, he became the first sociologist to receive the gold medal of the CNRS.
The story
Pierre Bourdieu was born at Denguin, in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques, on 1 August 1930. Admitted to the École normale supérieure in a year that also held Derrida and Le Roy Ladurie, he took his agrégation in philosophy in 1954.
His military service in Algeria, from 1955 to 1957, decided his life: he watched a society at war and gave up philosophy for sociology. The Algerian surveys are the foundation of his method.
“The Inheritors”, written with Jean-Claude Passeron in 1964, shows how school reproduces the inequalities it claims to correct. “Distinction”, in 1979, does the same for taste: what you like says where you come from.
A professor at the Collège de France from 1981, he founded the review “Actes de la recherche en sciences sociales” in 1975, then the publishing house Raisons d'agir. “The Weight of the World”, in 1993 — the year he took the CNRS gold medal — carried him far beyond the university.
He died in Paris on 23 January 2002, after a long illness. He lies in Division 28, on the chemin Camille-Jordan, with Marie-Claire, who died in 2014.
On site, do not miss
A plain stone, two names, no title — for one of the most widely read sociologists in the world.
Visitors' questions
Where is Pierre Bourdieu's grave?
In Division 28, chemin Camille-Jordan, second row, in the old, upper part of the cemetery — the Division of Beaumarchais, Brillat-Savarin and Redouté. The stone bears two names.
Pierre-Joseph RedoutéWhat are his best-known books?
“The Inheritors”, written in 1964 with Jean-Claude Passeron, on how schooling reproduces inequality, “Distinction” in 1979, on taste as a social marker, and “The Weight of the World” in 1993.
Auguste ComteWhy did he become a sociologist?
Because of Algeria: his military service, from 1955 to 1957, brought him face to face with a society at war. An agrégé in philosophy in 1954, he abandoned that discipline for fieldwork, which underpins his entire method.
Georges AuclairWhat honours did he receive?
The CNRS gold medal in 1993 — he was the first sociologist to win it — and the chair of sociology at the Collège de France, which he had held since 1981. He had founded his own journal and his own publishing house.
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