In this major work, Bourdieu examines the distinctive forms ofpower - political, intellectual, bureaucratic and economic - bymeans of which contemporary societies are governed. What kinds ofcompetence are claimed by the bureaucrats and technocrats whoadminister our societies? And how do those who govern come to gainthe recognition of those who are governed by them? Bourdieu examines in detail the work of consecration which iscarried out by the educational system - and especially in France bythe grandes écoles. The work of consecration can beseen in operation in different historical periods, whenever anobility is produced. Today the socially recognized groups functionaccording to a logic similar to that which characterized thedivisions between high and low in the ancien régime.Today this state nobility is the heir - structural and sometimeseven genealogical - of the noblesse de robe which, in orderto consolidate its position in relation to other forms of power,had to construct the modern state and the republican myths,meritocracy and civil service which went along with it. Bourdieu examines the mechanisms which produce the kind ofnobility displayed by those who govern, and the recognition grantedto them by those who are governed by them.