formation of intellectuals by antonio gramsci DOCX

Title	formation of intellectuals by antonio gramsci
Author	Pratiksha Panwar
Pages	3
File Size	21.6 KB
File Type	DOCX
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Summary

Discuss the process of formation of intellectuals according to Gramsci. The essay , “The Formation of Intellectual” has been taken from Antonio Gramsci’s prison notebooks which were written during his imprisonment years. It is a two part essay which deals with the idea and the concept of the intelle...

Description

Discuss the process of formation of intellectuals according to Gramsci. The essay , "The Formation of Intellectual" has been taken from Antonio Gramsci's prison notebooks which were written during his imprisonment years. It is a two part essay which deals with the idea and the concept of the intellectuals and its formation. Every society is composed of various groups which has specific role in the process of production in the society. This thesis is simply that each class produces its own intellectuals. This term in its earlier usage describes those of different occupations in the profession, sciences and arts who claim or are credited with the right to speak over and above particular interests on matters of general philosophical, ethical and aesthetic import. According to Gramsci, intellectuals are a broaden group of social agents than the term would seem to include in its definition. His views regarding the intellectuals is totally different from the conventional notion of intellectual where a person is known for his theories and ideas about sciences, arts , philosophy, etc. If we look at individual level , different people have different perspective about this term. " The intellectual is someone who meddles in what does not concern them". – Jean Paul Sartre But when Gramsci describes about intellectuals , he makes certain distinctions in context of historical change and that are organic intellectuals and traditional intellectuals. These intellectuals , that Gramsci identifies as "organic" intellectuals are perpetually in conflict with " traditional" intellectuals of pre-existing social groups . Within the dialectical materialist model, this perpetual conflict between organic and traditional intellectuals is the motor of class struggles. The organic intellectuals are the one who comes into existence as a result of the emergence of new social groups such as his example of an elite entrepreneur who acts as an catalyst for economic development because he creates jobs and necessity. Gramsci writes, "it can be observed that the 'organic' intellectual which every new class creates alongside itself and elaborates in the course of its development, are for the most part 'specializations' of a partial aspects of the primitive activity of the new social type which the new class has brought into prominence". The emerging social group appropriates the intellectuals that already existed, those who had ties with the previous dominant group. The social group adopts the intellectuals that reflect the socio- political – economic beliefs . "Traditional" intellectuals are only considered as such ,due to their emergence within the historically traditional dominant class, the aristocracy. For Gramsci the ecclesiastics are the traditional intellectuals associated with aristocracy who enjoy monopoly over a number of important services. They call themselves as autonomous and independent of...