The French sociologist and epistemologist Raymond Boudon is best known for his defense of methodological individualism and liberalism, and his nonutilitarian notion of rationality in the explanation of social phenomena. He was the author of a vast body of work on diverse subjects, including education, social stratification, social mobility, the sociology of knowledge, and values and beliefs. Three closely related themes circumscribe Boudon's sociology: antideterminism, antiutilitarianism, and antirelativism. With Michel Crozier, Alain Touraine, and Pierre Bourdieu, Boudon was part of the second generation of French intellectuals who helped to solidify sociology as an academic discipline in France.