Intellectuals are defined by social relations, not intrinsic activity.
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 (
#corroborates, via linked claim)
Categorization
- XREF: connects to: Intellectual figures are best read as archival praxis, not stable personalities; Intellectuals are never class-neutral but split into traditional and organic types; Intellectuals are any social stratum exercising organizational functions, not merely cultural elites — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 527 (+5 more)
Related
- Everyone is an intellectual, but few hold the social function. (similarity 0.91)
- Intellectuals are any social stratum exercising organizational functions, not merely cultural elites (similarity 0.90)
- Intellectual status belongs to anyone performing a directive and organisational function (similarity 0.88)
- Intellectuals are never class-neutral but split into traditional and organic types (similarity 0.88)
- Everyone possesses intellectual activity; intellectuals are a trained social stratum, not a separate species (similarity 0.85)
- Intellectuals should ground analysis in history, culture, and socioeconomic reality. (similarity 0.85)
- Intellectuals act as functionaries of the superstructures mediating society and production (similarity 0.84)
- Organic intellectuals arise from technical-educational elaboration of labor. (similarity 0.83)
- Being an intellectual is defined by directive and educative function, not education level. (similarity 0.82)
- Intellectuals are class-bound, not an autonomous social category (similarity 0.82)
- Intellectuals’ self-image as autonomous stems from their historical esprit de corps (similarity 0.82)
- Redefining intellectuals by social function clashes with caste preconceptions (similarity 0.80)
- Intellectuals’ self-image as autonomous shapes ideology and politics. (similarity 0.79)
- Intellectuals either serve existing power or align with emerging popular forces. (similarity 0.79)
- An obscure thinker could wield outsized intellectual influence despite publishing almost nothing (similarity 0.78)
Broader Connections
- Intellectuals are any social stratum exercising organizational functions, not merely cultural elites
#corroborates(0.90) — Antonio Gramsci, Selections from the Prison Notebooks, 527 - Everyone is an intellectual, but few hold the social function.
#expands(0.85) - Human essence is the ensemble of social relations, not an individual abstraction
#exemplifies(0.75) - Intellectual originality can be a product of marginal social position
#qualifies(0.70) — Georg Simmel, on individuality and social forms_…, 10 - Intellectuals’ self-image as autonomous shapes ideology and politics.
#complicates(0.70) - Thought is primarily public and social, not private
#corroborates(0.70) — James W. Carey, Communication as Culture- Essays on…, 200