Contradictions and conflicts in sociological writing: The rewriting of an interview by Pierre Bourdieu

This article aims at categorizing the practical problems posed by sociological writing and, more generally, the epistemological issues raised by such problems. It is based on two successive versions of a single interview made and transcribed by French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu. Looking at changes made between the two written versions, we attempt to shed light on specific constraints that influence the act of writing, answering three partially contradictory needs: to describe, to explain and to communicate.