Jean-Pascal Daloz

Jean-Pascal Daloz is a comparativist specialising in the study of elites. He is the author of well-known books, notably on social distinction, sub-Saharan Africa and symbolic aspects of political representation. He is also an authority on the cultural approach of comparative politics.

He is currently a senior CNRS Research Professor at the University of Strasbourg and Faculty Fellow of the Center for Cultural Sociology at Yale. He was previously Head of research institutes in sub-Saharan Africa and held positions in various universities, including those of Oxford and Oslo. From 2008-2018, he chaired the International Sociological Association’s Research Committee on Comparative Sociology.

He has published 17 books so far (+ translations), including the bestselling Africa Works: Disorder as political instrument (Oxford, 1999).

His latest volume in English is Expressions of High Status: A Comparative Synthesis (2022) which completes his Palgrave Macmillan trilogy on the topic of elite distinction. And in French, Hors du commun. Impensés de la distinction sociale (2026).