Pierre Bourdieu (1930–2002) was one of the most influential sociologists and anthropologists of the late twentieth century. He was Professor of Sociology at the Collège de France and Director of Studies at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales. His many works include Outline of a Theory of Practice, Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgement of Taste, The Rules of Art, The Logic of Practice and Pascalian Meditations.
‘A science of the social world must include a theory of struggle, based on a theory of the power relationships within which these struggles are waged. We can, for instance, suggest that the symbolic power available in the struggles to change the social world or preserve it will depend, firstly, on the symbolic capital held by the individual or the group proposing a conservative or transformational vision of the social world and, secondly, on the level of realism, that is, on the foundation in reality of the proposed representation. Between two conflicting visions of the social world, the two principles of differentiation then will be, on the one hand, the symbolic authority held by the two parties and, on the other, the level of realism, that is, of predictability, of the two conflicting visions.’ PIERRE BOURDIEU