In his empirical study “Star Sociologists” (Korom 2023), Philipp Korom deals with the quote-on-quote “elite of sociology.”

One of these kinds is the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu, whom Korom determines as one of the most influential and prestigious of the 2010s. Thus, Bourdieu is not only frequently cited in the most widely read and best-established sociology publications (cf. 74) but has had a remarkable impact within the diverse subfields of sociology throughout (cf.83-4). This is also evident in the fact that he has been widely read, translated, and received both in Europe and in the United States. Bourdieu’s rise to the “core elite” (78) of sociology follows a meteoric increase, which was strategically driven by Lamont and Wacquant, who helped make Bourdieu known in US sociology (155).

The English translation of Pierre Bourdieu’s “La Distinction. Critique sociale du jugement” in the Harvard edition alone has reached over 100,000 citations, according to Google Scholar, as of 2023. It’s with that one of the most cited books in sociology ever. Bourdieu, whose biography, and research were massively permeated by the phenomenon of “elites,” has thus also ascended to the core elite of sociology.

For more information, see the large, empirically based study by Philipp Korom, which was recently published: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-031-13938-3