| Abstract: | ![]()
Although contemporary scholars in various disciplines readily appropriate many of his ideas, Antonio Gramsci's theory of intellectuals remains curiously unappreciated. From the standpoint of the oft-lamented crisis of the contemporary intellectual, however, it represents a resource that is both indispensable and difficult to retrieve. In this article the historical and sociological nuances of Gramsci's theory, as well as the powerful, yet unheeded lessons of his own life as an intellectual will be examined. In particular, Gramsci's analysis of the social affiliation and political agency of the intellectual provides the framework necessary to explain the rise and ongoing crisis of the academic intellectual as a historically unprecedented figure. This point will be illustrated by examining the case of influential academic intellectuals such as Michael Walzer and Michel Foucault. The article concludes with some reflections on the merits of Gramsci's distinctive way of being an intellectual. |
