A student of Georges Balandier, he did fieldwork among the Guro (Gouro) of Côte d'Ivoire; his thesis was published in 1964.
Meillassoux returned to France run the family textile business but, tiring of administration, spent some time in the United States, employed by the commissariat à la productivité as an interpreter for visiting French industrialists.
Having taken classes taught by Balandier at the École pratique des hautes études in humanities and social sciences, Meillassoux went in 1956 to the Ivory Coast as an economic expert on a research project involving the Guro.
[3][4] In 1962, having defended his thesis under the supervision of Balandier, he took a position at the École pratique des hautes études.
In 1984, he was awarded the French National Centre for Scientific Research silver medal for his work.