Pierre Bourdieu was born on August 1st, 1930 in France. He died on January 23, 2002. He studied philosophy and later went on to do ethnographic research in Algeria during the civil war there. His research focused on relationships in social life and the social positioning of people and it's affect on them. He was a poststructuralist who believed that thought processes were a result of ones society, and not necessarily universal (Briggs and Meyer).
Graeber uses Bourdieu's writings on economic value and gift giving in the Kabyle culture. It is in the section "the return of economic man," which is elaborating the path away from structuralism mostly through an analysis of grift giving. Most of the examples given by Bourdieu are related back through social relations, which are his main points of study. In the end, Bourdieu concludes that every act of generosity (and any act in general) is ultimately done for the self, and not the other person.
Briggs, Rachel and Meyer, Janelle. "Structuralism." The Department of Anthropology: University of Alabama, 2009. Web. 23 September, 2012. http://anthropology.ua.edu/cultures/cultures.php?culture=Structuralism
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