Pierre Bourdieu (1930-2002) is the most influential sociologist of our time. His works take in education, culture, class, philosophy, religion, law, media, intellectuals, methodology, colonialism, kinship, and politics. In Conversations with Bourdieu, Michael Burawoy constructs a series of imaginary conversations between Bourdieu and his nemesisMarxismfrom which he silently borrowed so much. Karl von Holdt, in turn, brings these conversations to South Africa, showing the relevance of Bourdieu's ideas to a country he never visited. Armed with Bourdieu, von Holdt takes up pressing social and political issues of contemporary South Africa. Conversations with Bourdieu pushes theory to its limits through dialoguedialogue between theorists and dialogue between theory and the world it represents.

Michael Burawoy is a professor at the University of California, Berkley. In the XVII ISA World Congress of Sociology he was elected President of the International Sociological Association (ISA) for the period 2010-2014.

Karl von Holdt is a senior researcher at the Society Work and Development Institute (SWOP), University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.