This chapter is an extract taken from a book which comprises 25 influential articles by Derek Robbins, one of Britain's leading scholars on Pierre Bourdieu, the French sociologist. The following sample chapter applies Bourdieu's thinking to educational issues and debates. Focusing in particular on the author’s use of the work of Bourdieu to provide a framework for students undertaking the MA/MSc by Independent Study begun in 1984 at the School for Independent Study at the North-East London Polytechnic
