Beyond contextual differences, one can analyze Bourdieu’s strategy as the integration of Durkheim’s endeavor into a synthetic construction that surpasses the limits inherent to any conceptualization and that constitutes the point of view of all the points of view. In the first part, the notion of latent tradition is mobilized to account for the proximity of Durkheim and Bourdieu’s scientific and political attitudes. The second part is an attempt to show that Bourdieu’s theoretical ambition is based on a strategy of selective reappropriation that permanently reassesses the relevance of Durkheim’s concept of society. This article aims to contribute to our disciplinary history without limiting ourselves to textual comparisons, as philosophers keep on doing. By moving back and forth from texts to contexts, the stake was to sketch a historical sociology grounded on the analysis of recognition strategies in a highly competitive universe.