Born in Plessisville, Marcel Fournier completed his classical course at the Collège de Lévis [fr] before undertaking studies in sociology at the Université de Montréal.
[2] He completed a master's thesis there under the direction of Marcel Rioux [fr], before going to do his doctorate in France at the École Pratique des Hautes Études, under the direction of Pierre Bourdieu.
[2] Following the completion of his doctorate in 1974, Marcel Fournier was hired as a professor at the Université de Montréal, where he spent most of his career.
[1][2][3] He is particularly recognized for his work on French sociology and its history, of which he has become one of the most eminent specialists.
[4] His biographies of Marcel Mauss[5] and Émile Durkheim[6] are notably references.