Pierre Bourdieu(1930ndash;2002) was one of the most influential social scientists of the twentieth century. A professor of sociology at the Collège de France, he is the author of thirty-six books, includingDistinction, named one of the twentieth century’s ten most important works of sociology.Gisèle Sapirois a sociologist at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). She is a former student of Pierre Bourdieu and lives in Paris.