After pointing out the eclectic, pragmatic and reconstructive way in which Bourdieu uses the ‘classics’, in particular Durkheim, the essay examines the elements of proximity and distance between the two great French sociologists. The point of comparison is the habitus theory. A preliminary definition introduces the origins of the concept and Bourdieu’s scientific aims. A further step places the concept of habitus in the praxeological theories of knowledge with which he moves from the first level of objectification of the social world to the second level. In a third moment the habitus theory is examined as a dialectical and experimental science of the internalisation of exteriority, and the externalisation of interiority. By comparing Durkheim and Mauss on these levels of analysis, the essay aims to show that the Durkheimian school’s influence is relevant, even beyond the awareness of Bourdieu and the Bourdieusians.