Intellectuals are any social stratum exercising organizational functions, not merely cultural elites

Evidence

By “intellectuals” must be understood not those strata commonly described by this term, but in general the entire social stratum which exercises an organisational function in the wide sensewhether in the field of production, or in that of culture, or in that of political administration. They correspond to the NCOs and junior officers in the army, and also partly to the higher officers who have risen from the ranks. — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 527

Categorization

• DEFINE: Gramsci’s famous redefinition of ‘intellectuals’ as all who exercise organizational functions — a foundational concept for the theory toolkit.
• XREF: This expanded definition of intellectuals as organizational functionaries is a cornerstone concept Islamophobia readings will assume — colonial administrators, bureaucrats, clerics as ‘intellectuals’. — connects to: Intellectuals are never class-neutral but split into traditional and organic types; Intellectuals are defined by social relations, not intrinsic activity.; Everyone is an intellectual, but few hold the social function. (+3 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 527