100 Great Books: [Book 24: La Distinction by Pierre Bourdieu]
What is cultural capital?
Born in 1930 to a postal worker in rural southwestern France, Pierre Bourdieu rose through the French school system on scholarships and studied philosophy at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Moving from a small provincial background to the center of Parisian intellectual life gave him a double perspective: he belonged, yet never fully felt at home. This experience shaped his work, helping him see both the personal cost of social mobility and the quiet ways elites protect their status.
