Intellectuals and the Crisis of Modernity

Author: (USA)
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-03-01
Features: This book is a theoretical monograph focused on the crisis of modernity in intellectuals, covering topics such as the origins of pre-industrial society and Jacobinism, the intellectual and Marxist tradition, the transformation of modern intellectuals, universities, and the dissemination of the discourse of technocracy in modernity. It is suitable for researchers of intellectual theoretical issues. The book examines the changes in the lives of intellectuals during the process of modernization. These multiple and often complex transformations have lasted for at least two centuries and continue to this day. Around the political dimensions demonstrated by intellectuals in their ongoing struggles for ideological hegemony, the author raises a series of sharp questions: What are the main types of intellectual activity? How have they changed over time? What is the political role of intellectuals—is it hegemonic or anti-hegemonic, dominant or subversive? How do these roles change as the crisis of modernity deepens? Have intellectuals become a class with distinct interests and values? What conditions would foster the creation of a critical or oppositional intellectual class that contributes to history? If a truly radical democracy has a chance, it must emerge through the vitality of critical intellectuals and the empowerment of the masses—a hopeful "solution" to the crisis of modernity.