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Abstract

This chapter offers some preliminary reflections on Simon Susen and Patrick Baert’s The Sociology of Intellectuals: After ‘The Existentialist Moment’ (Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017). The chapter emphasizes three principal objectives of this book: first, to explore a new set of conceptual and methodological tools for the sociology of intellectuals (theoretical level); second, to assess how the phenomenon of the public intellectual has altered since the beginning of the twentieth century (historical level); and, third, to examine the extent to which intellectuals can play a constructive role in influencing social and political developments in the modern era (normative level). The chapter goes on to give a brief overview of both the structure and the contents of the book. Finally, the chapter explains why, in light of recent social and political transformations, the challenge of providing a theoretical framework for the sociological study of intellectuals has become particularly pressing.

Publication Type:	Book Section
Additional Information:	Susen, S. & Baert, P., Introduction: Key Issues in the Sociology of Intellectuals. In: The Sociology of Intellectuals: After ‘The Existentialist Moment’, 2017, Palgrave Macmillan, reproduced with permission of Palgrave Macmillan. This extract is taken from the author's original manuscript and has not been edited. The definitive, published, version of record is available here: https://www.palgrave.com/gb/book/9783319612096
Publisher Keywords:	Baert, Intellectuals, Public intellectuals, Sartre, Sociology of intellectuals, Susen
Departments:	School of Policy & Global Affairs > Sociology & Criminology

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