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This paper examines ethnographic approaches to political thought. It draws on fieldwork by French readers of the American philosopher John Rawls and of US theories of social justice. The article presents the theoretical framework of this research. It contributes to a historical sociology of political ideas in the context of the recent resurgence of intellectual history in France and abroad. The article then focuses on motivations using ethnography and fieldwork, including site selection. The ethnographic dimension of the fieldwork relates to the type of survey based on interviews, viewpoints endorsed, reflective approach, attention to “indigenous” categories, and body and material arrangements.