Intellectuals

Preface Introduction The Role of Intellectuals in Liberal Democracies: Political Influence and Social Involvement by Alain G. Gagnon Case Studies Social Scientists and Politics in Canada by Stephen Brooks and Alain G. Gagnon The Decline of the Left Intellectual in Modern France by George Ross Intellectuals: Producers and consumers of Social Criticism by Paul Hollander Intellectuals and the Construction of Consensus in Post-War England by Alan Swingewood Intellectuals and the Transformation of Political Culture in Post-War Italy by Carl Boggs The Intellectual in Mandarin Country: The West German Case by Hauke Brunkhorst Intellectuals and the Open Society in Israel by Michael Keren Perspectives for Comparative Analysis Intellectuals and Political Elites by S.N. Eisenstadt The Influence of Intellectuals on the Production of culture in France and the United States since World War II by Michele Lamont Jewish Intellectuals in Liberal Democracies by William D. Rubinstein The Political Sociology of Intellectuals: A Critique and a Proposal by Robert J. Brym Bibliography Index About the Contributors

The social role of intellectuals was a pervasive motif in Weber's thought, particularly in his works on religion and politics. Comprehensively examining and extending Weber's work on the subject, Sadri provides a new perspective on the intelligentsia and its role in society. He also provides a synthetic typology of intellectuals which spans both Eastern and Western traditions. Culling Weber's scattered observations on the subject, Sadri lays a theoretical foundation for a Weberian sociology of intellectuals, making it a valuable resource for scholars interested in the reflections of this great thinker.

Since the late nineteenth century, American intellectuals have consistently criticized the mass arts, charging that entertainments ranging from popular theater, motion pictures, and dance halls to hit records, romance, novels, and television are harmful to the public. This critique of popular culture continues today, with condemnations of television shows like NYPD Blue and increasing fears about the purported effects of rap or hip-hop music.

After an introduction to the major issues confronting intellectuals, this book explores the various aspects of the intellectual's role including: * philosophers and academics who have tried to define the function of the intellectual * how intellectuals have assumed the status of the conscience of the nation and the voice of the oppressed * the interaction of intellectuals with Marxism * the place of the intellectual in American society Covering regions as diverse as Israel, Algeria, Britain, Ireland, central Europe and America, this collection considers the question of whether the intellectual can still lay claim to the language of truth. In answering, this study tells us much about the modern world in which we live. Coverage includes the following thinkers: Gramsci, Weber, Yeats, Auden, Levy, Mailer, Walzer, Marx and many more.

A radical new interpretation of the political and intellectual history of Puritan Massachusetts, The Making of an American Thinking Class envisions the Bay colony as a seventeenth century one-party state, where congregations served as ideological `cells' and authority was restricted to an educated elite of ministers and magistrates. From there Staloff offers a broadened conception of the interstices of political, social, and intellectual authority in Puritan Massachusetts and beyond, arguing that ideologies, as well as ideological politics, are produced by self-conscious, and often class-conscious, thinkers.

The historical association between images of the intellectual and those of the stranger is explored in this work using detailed case studies. Is the outsider privileged with a deeper view of social reality? Marx, Durkheim, Sorel, Freyer, and Hendrik de Man are a few of the ambiguous, intellectual strangers examined.

Neither American history nor American society anticipated, sanctioned, or encouraged the development of either Black intellectuals or a Black middle class. Both emerged and developed against horrendous obstacles and both are great achievements. Both were sanctioned and given moral direction by the American Negro Academy, an organization founded in 1897 by Alexander Crummell, W.E.B. Du Bois, Francis Grimke, and others for the purpose of organizing Black intellectuals to defend and redeem Blacks, through intellectual, artistic, and scientific achievements in the face of racist detractors, and to help the Black middle class develop as the leadership class of Black America. Black intellectuals have had a difficult time fulfilling a leadership role, partly because they have failed to remember the three cultural heritages of Black people: Black, African, and Euro-American. The times demand that Black intellectuals approach themselves and their world from all three cultural perspectives, for the sake ofBlack people and for the sake of America, both of which desperately need their leadership.