Pierre Bourdieu is on the leading socialologists of the present day and this book provides the most comprehensive and up-to-date description of Bourdieu's key concepts, some previously unavailable to English readers. It demonstrates why Bourdieu's ideas remain central in contemporary sociology and it trades their connections with wider social thought. An accessible and readable imtroduction to Bourdieu's work, this book places him in intellectual and historical context, and shows how Bourdieu is best understood as a cultural analyst. It traces his development from his early work on education to his relationship to cultural sociology and cultural studies. The Book also gives detailed examples, drawn from Bourdieu's own work, to show how he makes sense of contemporary culture. Derek Robbins wrote the first full-length introduction to Bourdieu's work in English in 1991. This new book is the product of mature reflection on the relevance and importance of Bourdieu's thought.