Preface 1 Introduction: the intellectual field in France 1.1 ‘Poststructuralism’—an international misunderstanding? 1.2 Structuralism and post-structuralism in intellectual sociology of intellectuals 2 Structuralism versus post-structuralism. The birth of an intellectual generation 2.1 The transformations of Theory. From structuralism to ‘poststructuralism’ 2.2 Why there is no poststructuralism in France. Foucault, Derrida & Co. in the French intellectual field 2.2.1 Theoretical lines of conflict. Structuralists and ex-, non- and anti-structuralists 2.2.2 The arena of political conflict: the Communist Party and ‘68 2.2.3 Schools, clans, networks 2.2.4 Disciplinary cleavages between the human sciences and philosophy 2.2.5 Alternative education routes: elite academics versus colorful résumés 2.2.6 Peripheral institutions against the academic center 3 Rise and decline of the structuralist generation 3.1 From modernity to postmodernity: the intellectual field since the Enlightenment 3.2 The boom of the human sciences in the 1960s and 1970s 3.3 The formation of the structuralist generation 3.4 The neoliberal turn of the 1980s 4 From Theory in France to French Theory: the making of ‘poststructuralism’ in the post-national university 5 The Moment of Theory: the Social After Society Notes References Index

Angermuller is deft in cross-cutting between developments in French intellectual life and their often very partial, biased or distorted reception-history outside France. His shrewdly selective deployment of concepts from Bourdieu offers a number of striking insights into the formative conditions of (so-called) ‘French Theory’ and its uptake among critics and commentators in other national/cultural traditions. It is certainly the most comprehensive and thoroughly researched study of its kind to date and unlikely to be superseded as a standard work on the subject.

A riveting intellectual history of a generation of French thinker traditionally labelled the 'Postructuralists'. Both their radical theories, relationships with each other and French culture in general and the historical context are explored with aplomb.

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