Politicians today often know very little about the ordinary lives of their citizens. Preoccupied with opinion polls, the media and party political struggles, they lose touch with the very people whom they are supposed to represent. On the other hand, for many ordinary people today, the social conditions of their lives are getting worse. They find it increasingly difficult to live and to make ends meet; their neighbourhoods are disintegrating, their opportunities are limited and their view of the future is tinged with hopelessness and despair. While politicians are talking to one another, the voices of ordinary people remain unheard. Working with a group of associates, the leading French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu spent three years listening to ordinary people talk about their lives and about the difficulties they face."