Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu frequently claimed that literature conveyed proto-sociological knowledge. However, he hardly ever referred to naturalist Émile Zola in his extensive oeuvre. This volume explores the relationship between Bourdieu and Zola. Reconstructing Zola’s proto-sociology in Les Rougon-Macquart (1871–1893) makes it possible to identify in Zola a literary predecessor to Bourdieu’s sociological approach.