The Sociology of Intellectuals

"Focused on the theoretical model deployed in Patrick Baert's superb book on Sartre, this splendid little volume opens up crucial issues for the lively and growing field of the sociology of intellectual production and reception. Together with Baert's very substantial work on intellectual life in the UK, Japan and elsewhere, and Susen's masterly studies of Bourdieu, Habermas, Boltanski and postmodernism, it constitutes a major contribution to the field." (William Outhwaite, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, Newcastle University, UK)

This volume offers an unprecedented account of recent and future developments in the sociology of intellectuals.This volume offers an unprecedented account of recent and future developments in the sociology of intellectuals. It presents a critical exchange between two leading contemporary social theorists, Patrick Baert and Simon Susen, advancing debates at the cutting edge of scholarship on the changing role of intellectuals in the increasingly interconnected societies of the twenty-first century. The discussion centres on Baert’s most recent contribution to this field of inquiry, The Existentialist Moment: The Rise of Sartre as a Public Intellectual (2015), demonstrating that it has opened up hitherto barely explored avenues for the sociological study of intellectuals. In addition, the authors provide an overview of various alternative approaches that are available for understanding the sociology of intellectuals – such as those of Pierre Bourdieu, Randall Collins, and Neil Gross. In doing so, they grapple with the question of the extent to which intellectuals canplay a constructive role in influencing social and political developments in the modern era. This insightful volume will appeal to students and scholars of the humanities and social sciences, particularly to those interested in social theory and the history of intellectual thought.