Pierre François

Pierre François is a sociologist who has used the tools of economic sociology to analyze the dynamics of art worlds over the past ten years.

He is CNRS research director at the Center for the Sociology of Organizations (CSO). Pierre served as director of Sciences Po’s department of sociology from 2014 to 2017. His research focuses on the dynamics of the worlds of art – particularly contemporary poetry – and on the sociology of businesses and their leaders. Pierre François teaches in Sciences Po’s masters program as well as the Collège universitaire (undergraduate level), where he teaches the introduction to sociology course. He was a professor of sociology at the École polytechnique between 2009 and 2017.

He devotes another part of his work to historical sociology of firms and their managers since the 19th century, as part of an investigation undertaken with Claire Lemercier.